Crime & Safety

Acworth Man Guilty for Trying to Arrange Child Sex Encounter

Richard Simone Jr., 22, pleaded guilty to traveling across state lines for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct with a minor and now faces a maximum 30 years in prison.

An Acworth man living in New York admitted on Wednesday to traveling from Long Island to New Jersey to meet with a 9-year-old girl and her minor babysitter for a sexual encounter.

Richard Simone Jr., 22, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper in Trenton, N.J., to traveling across state lines for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct with a minor and now faces a maximum 30 years in prison when he’s sentenced on Aug. 6.

Simone, who will have to register as a sex offender and faces a $250,000 fine., made the trip and was arrested last September after communicating online with a woman about having sex with her young daughter and her underage babysitter. Instead, he was communicating with an undercover federal agent who was posing as the woman.

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The case was investigated as part of a nationwide initiative launched eight years ago by the Department of Justice to fight child exploitation and abuse.


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