A man walked from a suburb of Indianapolis to Wisconsin,
a 482-kilometer trip, to have sex with a person he believed was the 14-year-old
girl he had been talking to on Facebook, prosecutors said.
Instead, 32-year-old Tommy Lee Jenkins had been talking
to the Winnebago County vicesheriff who worked with the Special Crimes Against
Children Force on the Internet, a statement from the federal attorney's office
in the Eastern District of Wisconsin said.
He is accused of using a computer to try to persuade,
induce or incite a minor to participate in illegal sexual activities, the
office said, and faces 10 years of life imprisonment if convicted.
CNN contacted Jenkins' attorney, a federal defender, and
received no response.
"Our nation faces an epidemic of child sexual abuse, as the Internet makes it too easy for predators to communicate with children across the country," said US Attorney Matthew D. Krueger in a statement. "The Department of Justice is committed to working with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to aggressively prosecute child sexual abuse".
The law enforcement officer was posing as a girl named
"Kylee" who lived in Neenah, Wisconsin, with her mother, the lawyer's
office said.
Jenkins accepted a friend request from Kylee's profile
and soon began to engage in sexual conversations with her, asking if she had
had sex and requesting explicit photos, alleges a criminal complaint.
In early October, Jenkins began asking the girl if she
wanted her to come to Wisconsin. When she said yes, she later told him that she
had started walking from Whitestown, Indiana, to where she was.
"I'll tell you when I get to Neenah, 108 hours
walking," he said, according to the complaint.
Throughout his trip, Jenkins sent photos of the areas he
went through, including photos of exit signs and selfies, according to the
complaint.
On October 10, he said he had reached the state and that
someone had bought him a bus ticket to get to the town of the girl.
Authorities arrested Jenkins when he arrived, the
lawyer's office said. Jenkins is scheduled to appear in federal court on
October 23.
SOURCE: CNN
