Former Charlotte Legal professional Is Sentenced To 10 A long time For Online Enticement Of A Small | USAO-WDNC

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A former Charlotte lawyer was sentenced right now by U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. to 10 years in prison for the on-line enticement of a slight, declared Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  Joshua Michael Reed, 32, was also ordered to sign up as a sexual intercourse offender and to provide the rest of his life beneath courtroom supervision right after he is introduced from jail.

Robert R. Wells, Distinctive Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, joins U.S. Attorney King in building today’s announcement.

According to court paperwork and today’s court proceedings, amongst February 10 and February 18, 2020, Reed used the Kik Messenger application to engage in numerous communications with an FBI undercover personnel posing as a 13-calendar year-old female. Courtroom records clearly show that throughout these communications Reed talked about his fascination in participating in sexual get hold of with the “minor” and experimented with to solicit a nude photograph from the small. Reed also reviewed making arrangements to meet up with the small and informed the slight they experienced to be watchful or he could get into difficulties for the reason that “older fellas are not meant to mess around” with women the minor’s age.

On October 22, 2020, FBI agents executed a look for warrant at Reed’s residence and seized quite a few digital products. Reed’s laptops contained the aforementioned on the web Kik chats, as perfectly as visuals depicting the sexual abuse of young children. According to documents submitted in the situation, law enforcement also recovered earlier on-line chats relationship back again to about 5 a long time between Reed and women who claimed to be minors, some as youthful as 13.

On June 8, 2021, Reed pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement of a insignificant. He is presently in federal custody and he will be transferred to custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. 

U.S. Lawyer King recommended the FBI for the investigation primary to the thriving prosecution of Reed.

Assistant U.S. Lawyer Alfredo De La Rosa of the U.S. Attorney’s Workplace in Charlotte prosecuted the scenario.

This case was introduced as part of Undertaking Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of kid sexual exploitation and abuse, introduced in May perhaps 2006 by the Office of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Felony Division’s Kid Exploitation and Obscenity Segment (CEOS), Job Safe and sound Childhood marshals federal, condition and neighborhood assets to better track down, apprehend and prosecute men and women who exploit kids by way of the Online, as properly as to detect and rescue victims. For more facts about Undertaking Safe Childhood, be sure to pay a visit to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.