Texas Man Convicted of Traveling to Engage in Sexual Activity With Minors

FRANKFORT, Ky. - A Texas man was convicted in federal court, on July 3, 2019, following a three day jury trial, for crossing a state line to engage in sexual acts with minors who had not attained the age of 12.  Gregory Lee Hruby, of Brazoria, Texas, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 360 months (30 years) on each of two counts of traveling across a state line to engage in a sexual act with a person under the age of 12.  He also faces a potential twenty-year sentence for possession of visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.         

According to trial testimony, Hruby communicated with an undercover law enforcement agent, who responded to a post that Hruby had placed on the Whisper Application.  In the communications, the undercover officer portrayed herself as the mother of 9 and 11 year-old daughters, who she was willing to permit Hruby to “teach how to be a woman.”  Hruby engaged in text and telephone conversations with the undercover officer in which he indicated his interest in engaging in sexual intercourse with the fictitious minors.  Hruby was arrested after law enforcement officers met him at the airport in Lexington, on October 19, 2018, following his arrival on a flight from Houston, Texas.  Hruby also had child pornography images on his cell phone. 

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Steve Igyarto, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations (DHS-HSI); and Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear jointly announced the verdict.

The investigation was conducted by DHS-HSI and the Cyber Crimes Branch of the Office of the Attorney General of Kentucky.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys David A. Marye and Tashena A. Fannin represented the federal government in the case.