A 57-year-old Indiana man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for traveling across state lines to engage in sex with a 14-year-old girl in Kentucky.
Jeffrey Lee Justice, of Lexington, Indiana, was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 20 years of Supervised Release for violating federal child exploitation laws, announced United States Attorney Russel M. Coleman.
There is no parole in the federal system.
Last September, Justice pled guilty to traveling from Indiana to Kentucky to engage in sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl. According to the plea agreement and other court records, law enforcement officials became aware of Justice’s conduct as the result of an online undercover operation.
On November 22, 2016, an investigator with the Kentucky Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigations, acting in undercover capacity, created a Craigslist ad in Louisville, Kentucky, under the personals tab. The ad did not include any statement requesting sexual contact from responders.
That same day, Justice contacted the investigator through the Craigslist email server. During the communications, the investigator stated that he was a caretaker for two minor children. Justice requested to meet the children for sexual activity.
Justice, who lived in Indiana, arrived at the agreed-upon location. Law enforcement officials watched him drive into the parking lot in Jefferson County, Kentucky, on November 28, 2016. Justice had an LG VS425 smartphone in his possession at the time of his arrest.
A state search warrant executed on the phone revealed that it was the device used to communicate with the investigator.
Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless prosecuted the case. The Kentucky Office of Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigations conducted the investigation.
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.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.
Key Facts
- State: Kentucky
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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