Child Predator Sentenced To More Than 16 Years In Prison

Jacksonville, FL – U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan has sentenced William Isaak Sparks (24, Kalamazoo, Michigan) to 16 years and 9 months in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for attempting to entice a child to engage in sexual activity via the internet. After being released from prison, Sparks will be required to register as a sex offender. The court also ordered Sparks to forfeit a cellphone that was used in the offense. Sparks pleaded guilty on April 3, 2025.

On two separate occasions in May 2024, Sparks encountered an online undercover FBI agent posing as the father of an 11-year-old daughter who was available for sex. Sparks described his desire to have sex with the purported child and asked the agent to purchase a bus ticket so that Sparks could travel from Michigan to Jacksonville to have sex with the purported child. Before Sparks could make the trip to Jacksonville, he was arrested trying to meet a different fictitious 11-year-old for sex in Michigan. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Township of Kalamazoo (Michigan) Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura Cofer Taylor.

This case was brought as 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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.