Colorado Man Indicted on Federal Charge of Interstate Travel to Have Sex with a Minor

JACKSONVILLE, FL—United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton, along with James Casey, Special Agent in Charge of the Jacksonville Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), today announced that a federal grand jury in Jacksonville has returned an indictment charging John Barry Coe (age 20, of Denver, Colorado) with traveling from Colorado to Orange Park, Florida for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct with a minor. Coe made his initial appearance today in federal court before United States Magistrate Judge James R. Klindt. Coe's arraignment and detention hearing is scheduled for February 23, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.

If convicted, Coe faces a maximum term of 30 years’ imprisonment, a maximum fine of $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not less than five years and up to life.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit of the State of Florida Attorney General’s Office, and the Clay County Sheriff's Office.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's Child Predator CyberCrime Unit is a member of the FBI Cyber Taskforce in Jacksonville and the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a federally funded program working nationwide to educate and support law enforcement to stop these crimes. More information on the Florida Attorney General's CyberCrime initiative is available at http://www.myfloridalegal.com.

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 ww.projectsafechildhood.gov.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty