Park Forest Man Convicted of Enticement of a Minor

PEORIA, Ill. – A federal jury deliberated for just over two hours before returning a guilty verdict this afternoon against Bryan Rossi, 31, of the 400 block of Titonka Street in Park Forest, Ill., for one count of enticement of a minor.

Over two days of testimony this week, the government presented evidence to establish that Rossi arranged to meet a 15-year-old minor for sexual activity on the dating application Grindr. 

Sentencing for Rossi has been scheduled for November 15, 2021, before U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm at the federal courthouse in Peoria, Ill. Rossi faces statutory penalties of 10 years to life imprisonment. He remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals.

Rossi was arrested over Valentine’s Day weekend 2020 as part of an FBI operation conducted in Kankakee County, Ill. The operation was conducted with the assistance of the Bradley Police Department, the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office, and the Kankakee Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elly Peirson and Melissa Moody represented the government at trial.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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.