Michael Varian, Attempted Online Enticement of a Minor, New York 2019

A 52-year-old Troy man has pleaded guilty to attempting to entice a minor into a sexual encounter online.

Michael Varian, a school bus driver, admitted to sending sexually explicit text messages to an individual he believed to be a 14-year-old boy, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York.

Varian, who had a prior sexual encounter with a minor boy in the public bathroom of an Albany County mall, arranged to meet the boy at a fast food restaurant in Albany County, where he was arrested.

As part of his guilty plea, Varian faces at least 10 years and up to life in prison, and a term of post-release supervision of at least 5 years and up to life.

Sentencing is scheduled for October 16, 2019, before Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy.

Varian will also have to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

The case was investigated by the FBI and its Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of state and local law enforcement agencies, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua R. Rosenthal and Megan Kinsella Kistler.

This case is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a program launched in May 2006 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to combat online child exploitation.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/troy-man-pleads-guilty-attempted-online-enticement-minor