Bowling Green man sentenced for online enticement of minors

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A Bowling Green man is facing over two decades in prison after being sentenced for online enticement of several minors, officials say.

According to a release by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky, 40-year-old James Clark was sentenced Tuesday to 27 years and six months in prison for five counts of online coercion and enticement of minors, one count of sexual exploitation of a child, one count of receipt of child pornography, one count of cyberstalking and one count of tampering with a witness.

Clark will have a lifetime term of supervised release, according to officials.

The attorney’s office further states that over the course of three years, Clark “used social media applications to persuade, induce, entice and coerce five young girls to send him sexually explicit images and videos in exchange for gifts and money.”

Clark also allegedly used threats to coerce those minors to send sexually explicit content to him.

United States attorney Kyle Bumgarner stated, “Clark’s conduct was pure evil. A 40-year-old man preying on young girls is hard to comprehend and simply reprehensible. Because of law enforcement’s strong work, Clark will not see the light of day for nearly three decades and Bowling Green is better off because of it!”

There is no parole in the federal system.

This case was investigated by the FBI.