Ohio man sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for attempted enticement of minors

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – An Ohio man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for a sex crime involving minors, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Robert N. Bray, III, 39, of Logan, Ohio, previously pleaded guilty to enticing minors to engage in sexual activity. After Bray is released from prison, he will be on supervised release for 20 years, and will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Bray admitted that in July 2015, he used a computer and cell phone to communicate with an individual he believed to be the mother of a 10-year-old female and a 5-year-old male in Parkersburg. In reality, Bray was communicating with an undercover law enforcement officer. Bray continued communicating with the undercover officer, thinking he was arranging to engage in sexual activity with the minors. Bray arranged a meeting on July 22, 2015, and when he arrived in West Virginia, he was arrested. That same day, law enforcement executed a search warrant on Bray’s Ohio residence and seized a computer containing almost 300 images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

This prosecution is the culmination of a comprehensive investigation conducted by the West Virginia State Police, the West Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the West Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Parkersburg Police Department, the Parkersburg Narcotics Task Force, the Wood County Sheriff’s Department, the Hocking County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the FBI.

Assistant United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston is in charge of the prosecution. United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr., imposed the sentence.

This case is being brought as part of an ongoing initiative of the United States Attorney’s Office to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse in the Southern District of West Virginia.

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