Sex Stalker Sentenced to 8.75 Years

A Green Forest man has been sentenced to 8.75 years in federal prison for stalking three minor girls online.

Steven Lesmeister, 39, was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison for count one and 60 months in federal prison for count two, with these two terms to run concurrently with each other. He was also sentenced to 45 months in federal prison for count three, which will run consecutively to the terms for the first two counts. The total sentence is 105 months imprisonment.

Lesmeister was ordered to three years supervised release for each of the three counts, which will run concurrently.

According to court records, Lesmeister sent sexually explicit and threatening text messages and videos to three minor girls in Virginia, New York, and North Carolina between June 2014 and April 2015. The messages were sent from multiple email accounts, and Lesmeister was able to obtain the girls’ personal information through social media.

Lesmeister was located and arrested, and his devices were seized and searched. The investigation revealed that he had created numerous email and social media accounts and had sent hundreds of friend requests to teenage girls on Facebook.

The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security and the Northwest Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce. Assistant United States Attorney Ashleigh Buckley prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The initiative was launched in May 2006 and marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet.

Lesmeister’s sentence serves as a warning to those who would seek to harm children online. The court’s decision sends a strong message that online stalking and exploitation will not be tolerated.