BISMARCK - U.S. Attorney Timothy Q. Purdon announced that on July 30, 2012, Jeremy Zastoupil, 31, of Dickinson, N.D., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Daniel L. Hovland on a charge of coercion and enticement of a minor. Zastoupil pleaded guilty to the charge on May 9, 2012.

Judge Hovland sentenced Zastoupil to serve 10 years in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Zastoupil was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Crime Victim's Fund. Zastoupil must register as a sex offender.

In August 2011 Zastoupil commenced a chat session on the Internet with an undercover Dickinson police officer, who introduced himself as a 14-year-old female from Dickinson. Zastoupil attempted to persuade the undercover officer to engage in sexual activity. Zastoupil was arrested when he went to the site where he had agreed to meet the undercover officer.

The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, Stark County State's Attorney's Office, Dickinson Police Department, and North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

This case was brought as a part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Delorme prosecuted the case.

 

 

 

 

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