Ohio Man Sentenced for Traveling to KC to Meet Child Victim for Sex

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Ohio man was sentenced in federal court today for traveling to Missouri in an attempt to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a 12-year-old child.

Timothy M. Zukoski, 35, of Southington, Ohio, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to 10 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Zukoski to 10 years of supervised release following incarceration and ordered him to pay $5,000 in restitution to each of four victims of child pornography.

On Feb. 18, 2022, Zukoski pleaded guilty to one count of enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity. Zukoski admitted that he began communicating through Instagram on Oct. 21, 2020, with a person he believed to be 12 years old. In reality, the Instagram account had been set up by a woman for her daughter. Once the woman learned of Zukoski’s attempted communication with her daughter, she contacted the FBI. An FBI undercover employee then began communicating with Zukoski through the Instagram account, assuming the identity of the 12-year-old girl. Zukoski began making arrangements to travel to the Kansas City area so that he could meet the child victim for sex.

Zukoski made plans with the FBI undercover employee to stay in Kansas City while the child victim’s mother was purportedly out of town over Thanksgiving weekend. Zukoski also suggested that the child victim could come live with him. When Zukoski arrived in Kansas City on Nov. 27, 2020, he was arrested. Investigators found numerous images of child pornography on his cell phone.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine A. Connelly. It was investigated by the FBI and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

Project Safe Childhood

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 the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."