Alton Leonard Lowe, Enticement of a Minor, Louisiana 2020

Lafayette, LA – Alton Leonard Lowe, 33, of Eunice, Louisiana, has been sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in prison for enticement of a minor, announced Acting United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook.

Lowe was arrested in May 2020 in Jefferson Davis Parish on charges of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile and indecent behavior with a juvenile after meeting the victim, who was under the age of 18, through the Grindr app in November 2019.

Lowe, who was at least 31 years old at the time, began having sexual relations with the minor victim in December 2019, and they accessed the Grindr app via cellular telephones and communicated using the Grindr app and text messaging.

Lowe pleaded guilty to the charge of enticement of a minor on May 12, 2021 and admitted to using a smartphone to persuade, induce, entice and coerce an individual under the age of 18 to engage in sexual activity while having a criminal offense of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile and indecent behavior with a juvenile.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Louisiana Bureau of Investigation, Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office and Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation, while Assistant U.S. Attorney John W. Nickel prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. PSC is part of the Department’s focus on reducing the incidence of sexual exploitation of children by directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement to promote community action and public awareness and to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

As a result of this case, Lowe will face 10 years of supervised release following his prison sentence. Lowe was sentenced by United States District Judge Robert R. Summerhays on [date].

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