Palm Beach County Resident Pleads Guilty to Enticement of a Minor to Engage in Unlawful Sexual Activity
| U.S. Attorney’s Office June 17, 2013 |
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announced that Gary Goldberg, 49, of Palm Beach County, pled guilty on Friday, June 14, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra in West Palm Beach, Florida, to one count of enticing a minor to engage in an illegal sexual activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. section 2422(b).
Sentencing has been scheduled for September 16, 2013. At sentencing, Goldberg faces a statutory mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum term of up to life in prison on the enticement of a minor count.
According to documents filed with the court, Goldberg entered into a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old victim and her 15-year-old friend. In addition, Goldberg paid the minor victims to allow him to take sexually explicit photographs of them.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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.justice.gov/psc.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, Boca Raton Police Department, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, and the South Florida Minor Vice Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lothrop Morris.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls.