Cicero Man Pleads Guilty To Attempting To Entice A Minor

Syracuse, New York —United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian announced that BRYAN M. COLE, 30, of Cicero, New York pled guilty today in United States District Court to attempting to persuade a child he believed to be 11 years old to engage in unlawful sexual contact with him.

In his plea today, COLE admitted that in 2010 he contacted a female child on the Internet. After the child’s parents reported his sexually inappropriate chats to police, law enforcement took over the child’s account, and continued to correspond with COLE. Today COLE admitted that in those chats it was clear to him that the child was 11 years old, that he discussed engaging in sexually explicit conduct with the child, and that he arranged to meet with the child at a North Syracuse apartment on December 23, 2010, a day he believed was her 12th birthday, with the intent to engage in sexual conduct with her. When COLE arrived at the apartment as arranged, he was met by members of the New York State Police and arrested. He has remained in federal custody since his arrest.

COLE is scheduled to be sentenced for his offense on August 23, 2013 before Hon. David N. Hurd in Utica, New York. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Any sentence of imprisonment must be followed by a term of supervised release of no less than 5 years, and up to life. He will also be required to register as a sex offender, and may be fined up to $250,000.

COLE’s arrest was a result of investigation by the City of Fulton Police Department and the New York State Police, with the assistance of the United States Secret Service, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lisa Fletcher. This cooperative investigation and federal prosecution is a part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, and 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 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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.