Wyoming man sentenced to three years in prison for traveling to Bozeman with intent to engage in sex with minor

MISSOULA  — A Wyoming man was sentenced today to three years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, after he admitted he traveled to Montana with the intent to engage in sex with a minor, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

Jeremy George Lusk, 39, of Crowley, Wyoming, pleaded guilty in June to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided.

The government alleged in court documents that in January, law enforcement was working undercover and responded to an ad on a social media site that was looking for a sexual encounter. The undercover responded, asking the user, who was later identified as Lusk, if he had age limits. Lusk responded that he did not, and the undercover replied that she was 14 years old and lived in Bozeman. Lusk expressed hesitation with the undercover’s purported age before re-engaging and expressing a desire for someone her age. The communications led to Lusk sending a nude photo of himself and to sexually explicit conversations. Ultimately, the two discussed Lusk traveling to Bozeman to meet and have sex. Law enforcement arrested Lusk when he arrived in Bozeman from Wyoming believing he was going to meet the undercover. Inside his truck were lubricant jell, condoms and a sex toy.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno B. Baucus prosecuted the case. The Bozeman Police Department, Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the 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.justice.gov/psc.

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