Idaho man gets 10 years for trying to have sex with Pasco 'girl'

An Idaho man will spend 10 years in federal prison for trying to meet up with a teen girl to have sex during trips to the Tri-Cities for his job.

Jerry W. Lindsey Jr., 34, told the 13-year-old girl that his company had a rental house in Pasco and that he wouldn’t mind driving occasionally from his Hauser home to see her.

What Lindsey didn’t know is the girl he was communicating with through email and text message was an undercover officer who had found his age “18 or so” advertisement on Craigslist.

The ad included several photographs of Lindsey’s naked body and references to sexual acts he wanted to perform, according to court documents.

The detective posing as the girl made it clear a number of times that the girl was 13. Yet, instead of ending the communication, Lindsey asked about her sexual experience and if she was willing to learn new things, documents said.

Lindsey sent more explicit pictures of himself over the two-week period and encouraged the girl to sneak out of her house once her family was asleep. “When I am in town we can hang out when I am not working and also have a little fun,” he said in one text message.

Lindsey, a mechanic with a plumbing company, was arrested in December 2015 as he waited at the rental house for the girl to arrive. He had tried to meet with the girl twice before.

He told investigators that if the girl had come to the house, he “would have been in a lot of trouble,” court documents said.

After the interview, Lindsey wrote an apology letter saying, “I have a daughter and would not want this to happen to her.”

The detective who had been talking with Lindsey was working with the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations.

A U.S. District Court jury in Richland convicted Lindsey on Feb. 8 of attempted enticement of a minor. He had argued in trial that he believed he was communicating with an adult, documents said.

On Friday, Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson sentenced Lindsey to 10-year mandatory minimum term required by law.

Defense attorney Gary Metro had argued that was a severe enough punishment for Lindsey’s behavior.

“Here, a 10-year sentence is sending a loud, clear message to any adult who is even thinking of having sexual contact with a child — beware, beware a step perceived to be more than thinking will result in a very long time in jail,” Metro wrote in his sentencing memorandum.

After his release from prison, Lindsey will be on court supervision for five years. He also will have to register as a sex offender.

His criminal history includes convictions for counterfeit or altered lottery tickets in Idaho and a driving offense.

This story was originally published May 12, 2017 at 7:33 PM with the headline "Idaho man gets 10 years for trying to have sex with Pasco 'girl'."