A suspect was arrested after he reportedly walked 351 miles to have sex with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
Reports said 32-year-old Tommy Lee Jenkins, who had recently moved to Whitestown, Indiana, walked hundreds of miles to Winnebago County, Wisconsin, to have sex with a teenage girl named “Kylee” whom he met on the internet.
However, “Kylee” was actually a Winnebago County sheriff’s deputy working with the Internet Crimes Against Children task force.
A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin stated that Jenkins “began demanding sexually explicit photographs from ‘Kylee’ and making plans to engage in sexual activity.”
Reports said he allegedly asked “Kylee” to come live with him in Indiana multiple times, but when he was told no, he decided to make the journey to Wisconsin on foot.
Prosecutors claimed Jenkins took photos of himself and exit signs during the long hike and also reportedly told “Kylee” that he wanted to have 500 children with her in one year, according to Fox News.
However, when the suspect told “Kylee” on October 10 that he had arrived in Wisconsin, he was arrested by deputies and an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Reports said Jenkins faces charges of using a computer to “attempt to persuade, induce or entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.”
If convicted, the suspect will serve a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to a lifetime behind bars, according to WISN.
Reports said Jenkins is currently being held at the Brown County Jail in Wisconsin.
The Internet Crimes Against Children task force website stated that it is a “national network of 61 coordinated task forces representing over 4,500 federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies. These agencies are continually engaged in proactive and reactive investigations and prosecutions of persons involved in child abuse and exploitation involving the Internet.”
In a recent statement, U.S. Attorney Matthew Krueger said the nation is dealing with an “epidemic of child sexual abuse, with the Internet making it too easy for predators to communicate with children across the country.”
“The Justice Department is committed to working with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to prosecute child sexual abuse aggressively,” he concluded.