John Katz, Sex with a Minor, Georgia 2014

A 32-year-old Fayetteville man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for communicating with a minor on the Internet for the purpose of engaging in illegal sexual activity with her. John Katz drove more than 30 miles to meet the minor and was arrested when he showed up at a pre-arranged site to meet her for sex.

According to court documents, in February 2014, Katz posted an ad on Craigslist that was titled “Daddy looking for teenage slut.” In the ad, Katz expressed his interest in finding a young girl to act out his sexual fantasies. An agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) posed as a 15-year-old girl and responded to his ad. She wrote that she was “too young” for him but just wanted “to say hey!” Katz continued communicating with the girl and was graphic in his descriptions of the sex acts that he wanted to have with her.

At the same time, Katz was also communicating over the Internet with a 14-year-old girl and was trying to make arrangements to meet with her for the purpose of having sex with her. This 14-year-old girl in reality was another GBI agent acting in an undercover capacity.

On February 28, 2014, Katz drove from his home in Fayetteville to Lithonia, Georgia, to meet the 15-year-old girl. He was arrested when he showed up at a pre-arranged site. Additionally, he had condoms and a number of sex toys with him. After his arrest, he admitted that several years earlier he had actually had sex with a 15-year-old girl when he lived in Ohio and that he knew her age at the time they met.

U.S. Attorney John Horn said, “This case shines a light on some of the darkest corners of the Internet, where predators troll for the opportunity to victimize children.”

Katz was convicted of these charges on November 3, 2016, after he pleaded guilty. His sentence is to be followed by eight years of supervised release.

This case was investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Paul R. Jones prosecuted the case.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/fayetteville-man-sentenced-10-years-arranging-have-sex-minor