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Press Release

Springfield, Illinois, Man Convicted of Attempted Enticement of a Minor

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A federal jury returned a guilty verdict on June 23, 2022, against Stacey Furlow, 61, of the 3000 block of North Peoria Road in Springfield, Illinois, for attempted enticement of a minor, use of interstate facilities to attempt to transmit information about a minor, and attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor. Sentencing for Furlow is scheduled for October 21, 2022, at the U.S. Courthouse in Springfield.

During the trial, the government presented evidence that established that between August 27 and August 29, 2020, Furlow met an individual online and believed he was communicating with a fifteen-year-old child. Despite learning the individual’s age, Furlow discussed engaging in sexual activity with the minor, asked for the minor’s address on numerous occasions, and sent inappropriate pictures of himself to the child. On August 29, 2020, after confirming that the minor was alone, he asked for the child’s address and drove to the residence expecting to engage in sexual conduct; he was then arrested. 

Furlow remains in the custody of U.S. Marshals Service pending sentencing. At sentencing, he faces statutory penalties of not less than 10 years and up to life in prison for attempted enticement of a minor; not more than five years in prison for use of interstate facilities to attempt to transmit information about a minor; and not more than 10 years in prison for attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor.

The prosecution was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Springfield Office, with assistance from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations; the Springfield Police Department; and the Illinois State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tanner K. Jacobs and Sierra Senor-Moore represented the government at trial.

The case against Furlow was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to 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.

Updated June 28, 2022

Topic
Project Safe Childhood