Former Clinton Band Teacher Sentenced on Federal Charges For Attempted Enticement Of Minor
Davenport, IA - On October 19, 2009, following his earlier conviction at trial, James William Young, 34, of Clinton, Iowa, was sentenced to 160 months imprisonment for one count of Attempted Enticement of a Minor to Engage in Illicit Sexual Activities, announced United States Attorney Matthew G. Whitaker. United States District Judge John A. Jarvey ordered that Young will serve a term of 10 years supervised release following his incarceration and pay an assessment of $100 to Crime Victims Fund.
The case began during an online undercover investigation. As part of her duties with the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, a Detective of the DeWitt, Iowa, Police Department logged on to an “Iowa” chatroom available through Yahoo! Instant messenger on November 4, 2008. The Detective’s screen name was “erj94erj94.” On that date, she received an instant message from screen-name “funminqc.” The individual using the identity of “funminqc” was later identified as James William Young.
The Detective had numerous chats with Young. Early into the first chat with Young, the Detective said she was a fourteen year-old girl, subsequently identifying herself as “Emily.” The instant message conversations between Young and Emily continued through November 12, 2008. Also, during this period of time Young and Emily also sent several e-mail messages to each other. Young used these conversations in an attempt to entice Emily. The Detective’s testimony at trial established that the conversations constituted grooming. During these conversations Young suggested getting a hotel as well as other possible meeting places. He suggested a variety of sexual activities.
On the November13th Young reserved a room at a DeWitt Super 8 motel using a credit card . Young had sent several e-mail and chat messages to Emily arranging their meeting at this Super 8. Young had made arrangements with Emily that he would leave a note with the room number under a windshield wiper.
On November13th, Young left his job at Clinton High School and drove to DeWitt, Iowa. He was followed by an officer with the DeWitt Police Department. The police recorded Young’s arrival on video. The police also record Young leaving his vehicle and entering the Super 8, as well as his subsequent departure.
The hotel clerk that was working on November 13th testified that Young tried to pay for the room with a credit card. The clerk ran the card through twice, but both times the card came back declined. The clerk told Young that the card had been declined. Young then told the clerk that he was going to get cash to pay for the room. He asked the clerk where he could find an ATM machine. The clerk told Young the location of an ATM.
Police saw Young leave the Super 8. Officers began to follow him. They saw him at a US Bank ATM. After visiting the ATM, Young called the Super 8 and cancelled the reservation. The clerk stated that Young said he was cancelling the reservation because he could not pay for the room. After cancelling the reservation Young began searching for Emily. He drove around DeWitt looking for her. Eventually Young drove into a park that was located close to the Super 8. In previous e-mail conversations the park had been discussed as a possible rendezvous point where he could pick up Emily.
A decoy officer had dressed herself up to look like Emily. The officer wore the clothes that Emily said she would be wearing. Young noticed the officer dressed like Emily and tried to get her attention by honking at her. At this point Young was pulled over and arrested.
A search of Young’s car revealed a few additional pieces of evidence. The police found a note that said “Emily” at the top, but was otherwise blank. The police also found a container of baby wash. A condom was found on the Young’s person.
Following Young’s arrest, the Detective interviewed him. Among other things, Young admitted that he set up something stupid, something illegal. He indicated that he couldn’t handle not having sex since first experimenting with it. Young admitted making arrangements to meet Emily at the Super 8. He stated that he couldn’t say that nothing would have happened, he didn’t know, he didn’t know if it would have been 100% innocent. Young also admitted that he and Emily had discussed touching and oral. When asked if a sexual encounter may have happened in the hotel room, he answered “possibly, yeah.”
Young took the stand at trial, stating that he did not intend to go through with meeting Emily. In his version, he planned to find her and give her a ride home. Their sex chats were either a joke, because he had used the term “lol” or were simply designed to test Emily’s ‘boundaries”.
The jury also heard evidence of several sexual chats Young had with a series of seventeen-year-old girls. The Detective testified that these chats constituted grooming. Also placed into evidence were several sexual chats that the Young had with adults.
The jury found Young guilty after a short deliberation.
This investigation was conducted by the DeWitt, Iowa, Police Department and the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force .