5400 Federal Plaza, Suite 1500 Hammond, IN 46320
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mary L. Hatton May 18, 2007 PHONE: (219) 937-5603
Fax: (219) 852-2770
Hammond, IN—The United States Attorney’s Office today announced that RAHUL MANNAVA was convicted of the federal offense of using the internet to coerce or entice a person under the age of 18 years to engage in sexual activity.
Mannava, age 33, of South Bend, Indiana was convicted following a three day jury trial before Judge Philip Simon. In July, 2006, law enforcement agents created a profile for a 13 year old girl using the Yahoo! screen name “gracief13". The defendant initiated a conversation with “gracief13" in August, 2006. During conversations between August 11 and August 19, 2006, the defendant believed that “gracief13" was a 13 year old girl. On August 19, the defendant agreed to travel to West Lafayette, Indiana that day to meet “gracief13" at a business in West Lafayette. Mannava traveled to West Lafayette and met with an undercover police officer posing as “gracief13". At that time, Mannava was arrested by agents of the U.S. Secret Service and the West Lafayette Police Department.
Sentencing has been set for September 5, 2007 at 1:00 PM in Hammond before Judge Philip P. Simon.
This case was prosecuted by AUSA Philip C. Benson and Thomas S. Ratcliffe.
The specific sentence to be imposed upon conviction in this case will be determined by the judge after a consideration of federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
###