Palm Beach County Resident Sentenced for Enticing a Minor to Engage in Unlawful Sexual Activity

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announce that Gary Goldberg, 49, of Palm Beach County, was sentenced yesterday to 156 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra in West Palm Beach for enticing a minor to engage in an illegal sexual activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2422(b).

According to documents filed with the court, Goldberg entered into a relationship with a 17-year-old victim and her 15-year-old friend. Goldberg paid the minors to allow him to take sexually explicit photographs of them.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, the Boca Raton Police Department, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, and the South Florida Minor Vice Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lothrop Morris.