Man Sentenced to 70 Months for Traveling with Intent to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct

ROCHESTER, NY—Ray Keefer, age 51, of Fayette, NY, who, in January, had pleaded guilty to a felony charge of travel in interstate and foreign commerce with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, was sentenced to 70 months' imprisonment and 15 years of supervised release by United States District Judge David. G. Larimer, Acting U.S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter of the Western District of New York announced today.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who handled the case, stated that the on or about August 17, 2008, the defendant traveled in interstate commerce from New York to the state of Ohio with the intent to engage in sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 17. He had met the minor while playing the Playstation 2 online game "Battlefield."

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 (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.

The sentence was the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Cory B. Nelson, Special Agent in Charge, the Seneca County Sheriff's Office, under the direction of Sheriff Jack Stenberg and the Seneca County District Attorney's Office under the direction of Richard Swinehart.