Acworth Man Sentenced For Would-Be Sexual Encounter With Minors

An Acworth resident who traveled from New York to New Jersey to have sex with a 9-year-old girl will spend the next 10 years in federal prison, the Associated Press reports.

As it turns out, the girl Richard Simone, Jr. drove across state lines to see didn’t actually exist, nor did the underage babysitter he also believed he would have sex with. Both fictitious minors were the work of an undercover special agent, who claimed to be the 9-year-old’s father. The two chatted online for several weeks about Simone having sex with the fictitious children.

Simone was arrested last September and pleaded guilty in April of this year. He was sentenced to 121 months in prison and five years’ probation on Monday, federal prosecutors announced.