ASHLAND, KY — A Columbus, GA man, Eric Duane Elmore, 48, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison on Monday, by U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning, after pleading guilty to attempted online enticement.
According to Elmore’s guilty plea agreement, he admitted to corresponding with a 15-year-old victim, beginning in late 2018. When the conversations became sexual in nature, the victim told a school counselor about the messages, who then contacted law enforcement. Law enforcement then gained authorized control of the online account and continued the conversations with Elmore, which ultimately led to Elmore discussing travel to Kentucky to meet with the victim for sexual purposes.
Elmore pleaded guilty in June 2021.
Under federal law, Elmore must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 15 years.
Carlton S. Shier, IV, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office; and Colonel Phillip Burnett, Commissioner, Kentucky State Police, announced the sentence.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and KSP. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Roth.
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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