Chattanooga Man Sentenced to Prison on Child Enticement Charges

ROME, GA—Jason Antti, who traveled to Georgia to have a sexual encounter with a fictitious 11-year-old and 14-year-old girl, has been sentenced on charges of child enticement.

“This office will continue to aggressively pursue individuals who seek to exploit young children,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “Engaging in sexual acts with children is a vile and violent act, and perpetrators will be held accountable for this reprehensible conduct.”

Mark F. Giuliano, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated, “The FBI’s various Child Exploitation Task Forces scattered throughout the country are designed to identify, investigate, and present for prosecution those individuals like Mr. Antti who choose to prey on our nation’s children. Mr. Antti, having been sentenced in federal court, will now have to answer for his predatory criminal conduct.”

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges, and other information presented in court: In June 2012, a special agent with the FBI’s Northwest Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, working online and undercover, posted an ad on Craigslist. The agent posed as a stepfather looking for people interested in having sexual relations with his two young step-daughters. Antti responded to the ad. When Antti was told that the girls were only 11 and 14 years old, he replied that he had a fantasy to engage in sex acts with very young children. Antti then described in detail the sexual acts he intended to perform with the two young girls.

During subsequent online exchanges between the defendant and an undercover agent, Antti indicated that he would be traveling to Georgia from Chattanooga, Tennessee. He agreed to meet the undercover agent and both girls at the Econolodge in Chickamauga, Georgia. On the afternoon of June 8, 2012, Antti drove to the Econolodge in his gray BMW and was arrested. Agents recovered two boxes of condoms from his vehicle.

Antti, 41, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has been sentenced by United States District Judge Robert L. Vining, Jr., to 15 years in prison today, followed by 15 years of supervised release. He was convicted of these charges on April 18, 2013, upon his plea of guilty. The defendant will be required to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Rossville Police Department, the Murray County Sheriff’s Office, and the Walker County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant United States Attorney Suzette A. Smikle prosecuted the case.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.Pressemails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.justice.gov/usao/gan.