Tioga County Man Sentenced to 124 Months for Attempted Online Enticement of a Minor

 SYRACUSE, NEW YORK - Jacob Gorman, age 39, of Waverly, New York, was sentenced today to serve 124 months in federal prison for attempted online enticement of a minor, announced Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon and Thomas F. Relford, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). 

As part of his previous guilty plea Gorman admitted that between August 11, 2020 and August 27, 2020, he exchanged text messages with an undercover officer he believed was the mother of a 9 year old girl.  In those messages, Gorman expressed an interest in meeting the child and engaging in sex acts with her.  Gorman negotiated a price he was willing to pay to engage in sex acts with the child and on August 27, 2020, drove to a pre-determined location in Broome County to meet and have sex with the child.  Gorman was then encountered by law enforcement and arrested. 

Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy also imposed a 15-year term of supervised release, which will start after Gorman is released from prison, and ordered Gorman to pay a $100 special assessment. As a result of his conviction, Gorman will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

Gorman’s case was investigated by the FBI Syracuse Mid-State Child Exploitation Task Force. This task force is comprised of FBI Special Agents and Investigators of the New York State Police, Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey J. L. Brown as part of Project Safe Childhood.

Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s 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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.