Sioux Falls Man Sentenced for Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet

SIOUX FALLS - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, man convicted of Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet. The sentencing took place on January 19, 2023.

Luke John Schauer, age 29, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100.

Schauer was indicted by a federal grand jury in February of 2022. He pled guilty on September 13, 2022.

The conviction stemmed from an incident on January 18, 2022, when Schauer attempted to coerce an undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old female, to meet and engage in sexually explicit conduct. Using his account on KIK Messenger, Schauer made plans to meet the undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old on February 8, 2022. The text messages on KIK involved interstate commerce because Schauer was in South Dakota and the undercover agent was in Pennsylvania. Schauer was employed as a police officer with the Sioux Falls Police Department at the time of the offense. He was immediately relieved of his duties upon his arrest and his employment terminated.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, with cooperation from the Sioux Falls Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper prosecuted the case.

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 the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

Schauer was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.