August 30, 10

NEWS / Seniorloverman Sentenced to Prison for Attempting to Solicit a Minor for Sex Via the Internet

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX—73-year-old George Ivar Musick, known by the screen name “seniorloverman,” has been sentenced to 121 months in federal prison without parole for using the Internet in an attempt to coerce and entice a minor to engage in sexual activity, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.

Musick, of Harker Heights, Texas, was sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Hayden Head to the 10-year and one-month prison sentence at a hearing yesterday afternoon and further ordered Musick register as a sex offender. In federal custody without bond since his March 2010 arrest following the filing of a federal criminal complaint, Musick will remain in custody pending transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility to be designated in the near future where he will serve out his sentence. Upon release, the court has ordered Musick serve a 10-year term of supervised release under conditions designed to protect children and limit his Internet access.

A jury’s guilty verdict convicted Musick in June 2010 following a two-day trial. Evidence at trial proved that Musick began chatting via the Internet while using the AOL (America Online) screen name “seniorloverman” in an online chat room dedicated to adults who are interested in engaging in sexual activities with minors. While in this chat room, Musick unknowingly encountered an undercover Corpus Christi Police Department (CCPD) detective posing as the 41-year-old mother of two daughters, ages 12 and 13.

During online chats and e-mails with the undercover detective, beginning Feb. 9, 2010, and continuing through Feb. 26, 2010, Musick described in explicit detail his desire to engage in sexual acts with the 13-year-old daughter. Musick also expressed his willingness to travel to Corpus Christi to engage in these sexual acts with the child. Jurors also heard that Musick had engaged in similar chats with the undercover detective’s 13-year-old child persona. During numerous chats with the 13-year-old, Musick described the sexual acts he intended to perform on the child and said the activities needed to remain a secret from everyone else.

On Feb. 26, 2010, Musick traveled from Harker Heights, Texas, near Waco to Corpus Christi, with the intention of engaging in sexual activity with the 13-year-old child. Instead, he was met by CCPD and arrested.

The investigation leading to the federal charges and Musick’s conviction was conducted by the FBI and CCPD and brought as a part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafetchildhood.gov.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Duke prosecuted the case.

http://houston.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/ho082710.htm