A 22-year-old McKinney man was sentenced to 20 years in prison after attempting to meet a child for sex, says the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Stephen Chase Clark was sentenced to 250 months in a federal prison Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to attempted coercion and enticement of minors and distribution of child pornography back in March.
His conviction came after he reached out to what he believed was a 13-year-old child through a social media messaging app, said Davilyn Watson, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Texas, in a prepared statement.
Authorities say in August 2018, Clark asked the child for nude pictures and then discussed meeting up with the juvenile for sex. When he went to a park in Collin County to meet up with the child, he instead learned he had been talking with an undercover police officer.
He was arrested and indicted by a grand jury on Oct. 18, 2018.
“This was an especially warped defendant, and we have real concern that there could be other victims out there,” said United States Attorney Joseph D. Brown. “We encourage anyone who knows of other inappropriate contact that Clark could have had with children to call our victim’s assistance hotline.”
Clark's arrest was part of a multiagency investigation that led to the arrest of 12 people across North Texas in connection to child sexual exploitation. The string was dubbed Operation Zeus.
Anyone with additional information on potential crimes committed by Clark is asked to call the U.S. Attorney's Office at 1-800- 804-3547.
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