Texas Man Sentenced To 120 Months In Prison For Attempting To Entice A Minor To Have Sex

LAFAYETTE, La. –A Texas man was sentenced to 120 months in prison and five years of supervised release for contacting a 14-year-old girl in order to start a sexual relationship, U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today.

Elton Ray Jones, 67, of Zavalla, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote for one of count attempting to entice a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity. He was found guilty after a two-day jury trial that ended on March 12, 2014. Based on witness testimony and documents admitted into evidence, it was shown that from September 11, 2012 to October 17, 2012, Jones made contact and conducted online chats with a law enforcement officer posing as a 14-year-old girl.  Jones engaged in explicit conversations and planned a sexual encounter. Law enforcement officers arrested Jones on October 17, 2012 in Lafayette where Jones had planned to meet the girl.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice launched nationwide initiative 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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Investigations/Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at (866) DHS-2ICE.  Investigators are available at all hours to answer hotline calls. Tips or other information can also be submitted to ICE online at www.ice.gov/exec/forms/hsi-tips/tips.asp.  Tips may be submitted anonymously.

The Louisiana State Police and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Myers P. Namie and John Luke Walker prosecuted the case.