After a Lawrenceville man was caught attempting to arrange sex with a child, the FBI discovered he had previously sexually abused four children, one as young as a year old, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.
Leonard Nathaniel Peragine, Jr. responded to an online ad that “purported to offer sexual access to a child,” and instead came into contact with an undercover agent, according to a news release.
When speaking to the "child,” Peragine sent videos of child pornography and asked if she would want to try the same sex acts with him, the DOJ said. The agent said she might, and Peragine arranged to meet her in Suwanee in September 2015, according to the release.
Peragine was arrested when he arrived. The FBI found condoms in his car and child porn on his cell phone, the Justice Department said.
The investigation into Peragine revealed that he had sexually abused four children in the past: a 1-year-old girl, a 6-year-old girl , an 8-year old girl and a 14-year-old boy, the Justice Department said.
Peragine pleaded guilty to federal charges of using the internet to entice a child for sexual activity, and for distributing and possessing child pornography as part of that enticement in October 2016. He was sentenced to 28 years and four months in federal prison on May 31.
His sentence will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release.
“Peragine intentionally searched online for sexual opportunities with children, and fortunately his efforts connected him to an undercover FBI agent instead,” said U.S. Attorney John Horn in the release. “Such conduct is as dehumanizing as it is dangerous. Sexual predators may feel the anonymity of the internet keeps them safe from detection, but this case shows that these predators will be found and prosecuted.”
Peragine is still awaiting trial on state charges of aggravated child molestation and “other related charges” in Lumpkin County.
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