Wednesday, April 1, 2009 | 4:59 p.m.
A federal judge sentenced 35-year-old Kristopher Duke of Las Vegas to 10 years in federal prison and lifetime supervised release for his guilty plea to coercion and enticing a minor for sex.
U.S. District Judge Lloyd D. George handed down the sentence today, said U.S. Attorney Greg Brower of Nevada.
During June and July 2007, Duke engaged in numerous online conversations of a sexual nature with who he thought was a 13-year-old girl who lived in Los Angeles.
The "girl" was actually an FBI agent working undercover. Duke told the girl he was a 33-year-old man living in Nevada and repeatedly engaged the girl in sexual conversations, court documents said. Duke expressed in graphic terms his desire to meet the girl in person and to engage in sexual activity.
During one of the online conversations, Duke and the girl exchanged photographs of each other. Pictures of the girl were actually of a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy, taken when she was 13 years old.
Duke made arrangements to meet the girl at a Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Woodland Hills, Calif., on July 28, 2007 and to spend the night with her. Duke was seen by FBI agents leaving his Las Vegas residence and driving southbound on Interstate 15 toward Los Angeles. He was arrested about five hours later when he arrived at the bookstore.
During an interview with FBI agents, Duke admitted that he had communicated online with the girl and that his intentions were to get to know her a little and to engage in sexual relations with her if she was willing to do so. Child pornography was found on his laptop computer in Los Angeles, as well as on two computers in his house in Las Vegas. Duke was employed as a cameraman with KLAS-TV Channel 8 at the time of his arrest.
This case was brought under the Project Safe Childhood, created in February 2006. The national initiative is designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.
The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy J. Koppe.
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