LEXINGTON, Ky.— A Powell, Ohio, man, Syed Sheraz Ahmed, 40, was sentenced to 360 months in federal prison on Monday, by Chief U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves, after pleading guilty to traveling for sex with a minor and receiving a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
According to Ahmed’s plea agreement, he admitting to meeting a minor in the Fall of 2015, through Facebook, using a fictitious name. Ahmed then communicated with the minor over Facebook and Snapchat; and in September 2016, he made plans to drive, from his residence in Ohio to Kentucky, to meet the minor in person. Ahmed admitted to picking up the minor from her school and taking her to a motel, where they had sexual intercourse. Later, Ahmed was stopped by police and found in possession of sexually explicit images of the minor victim.
Ahmed pleaded guilty in July 2021.
Under federal law, Ahmed must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for life.
Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office; and Chief Rodney Richardson, Police Chief, Richmond Police Department, announced the sentence.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Madison County Police Department. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Greenfield.
This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
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