Sex offender sentenced for attempt to entice Rockland investigator posing as teen
A New Jersey registered sex offender was sentenced to 15 years in prison Tuesday for attempting to entice an undercover Rockland County officer who posed as a 13-year-old girl.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Brian Reed, 36, of Franklin, New Jersey, engaged in text conversations on an online platform with an undercover investigator from the Rockland County District Attorney's office posing as a 13-year-old girl on May 26, 2022.
Reed was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Phillip M. Halpern. Williams praised the FBI, the Rockland County Sheriff's Office and the Rockland County District Attorney's Office in connection to this investigation.
Williams said that during the exchange, the investigator told Reed that she was 13. Reed used suggestive sexual language while speaking to the investigator, asked for sexually explicit pictures of her and asked her to meet up with him to have sex.
Williams said when the investigator asked if Reed was "ok w my age," Reed responded, "Yes of course."
Reed made a plan to meet the investigator in Rockland County on the evening of May 26, 2022 and told her to "wear something that's easy to take off."
Williams said Reed drove from New Jersey to Rockland to have sex with the supposed 13-year-old and was arrested upon arriving at the location.
On Oct. 23, Reed pleaded guilty to attempted enticement of a minor. Prior to the most recent sentencing, he was convicted on Oct. 17, 2016 of endangering the welfare of a child through sexual conduct in Morris County Superior Court in New Jersey. On Feb. 17, 2017, Reed was sentenced to three years in prison and required to register as a sex offender.
"Brian Reed's actions demonstrate the depths of depravity and danger potentially lurking in the digital realm that connects us all," Williams said. "Let this sentencing serve as a reminder that this office will harness every tool at our disposal to hold accountable those who prey on and exploit our youth."
In addition to the most recent prison sentence, Reed was also sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Sex offender sentenced for attempt to entice undercover investigator
