A 55-year-old Lubbock, Texas, man, Danny Ray Caudill, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 120 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in September 2016 to one count of attempted enticement of a minor, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
According to documents filed in the case, from approximately June 26 through July 20, 2016, Caudill used Facebook messaging to communicate with a person he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, who was, in fact, an undercover officer. In the communications, he knowingly persuaded, induced, and enticed, and attempted to entice this person he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, to engage in sexual activity with him. On July 20, 2016, Caudill made arrangements to meet with the person he believed was the minor girl, and he was arrested when he arrived at the agreed-upon location.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”
The investigation was conducted by the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy was in charge of the prosecutions.
(News release from the Department of Justice)
