A Fayetteville man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday after authorities say he traveled 30 miles to meet a 15-year-old girl to have sex.
John Katz, 32, pleaded guilty in November to communicating with a minor on the internet for the purpose of engaging in illegal sexual activity.
According to officials, Katz posted a Craigslist ad requesting sex with underage girls in February 2014. A GBI agent posing as a 15-year-old reached out to him, saying she was “too young,” but wanted “to say hey.”
“This was not Katz’s first attempt to reach out from the internet to actually have sexual contact with a minor,” Northern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney John Horn said in a news release. “This case prevents him from further attempts to make the internet a dangerous place for children.”
Katz and the GBI agent arranged to meet while he was speaking to a 14-year-old girl, who was also a GBI agent working undercover.
He drove from his Fayetteville home to Lithonia to meet the 15-year-old and was arrested on the scene.
Authorities found condoms and sex toys on him. Katz admitted at the time of his arrest that he knowingly had sex with a 15-year-old girl in Ohio several years earlier.
“Underage children cannot consent to sexual activity — period,” ICE Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Nick Annan said. “This sentencing clearly illustrates that anyone who seeks out sex with an underage person can and will face serious criminal charges and an extensive period of time behind bars.”
Katz will be on supervised release for eight years following his 10-year prison sentence.
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