Wisconsin Man Seeking Sex With 4-Year-Old Sentenced To 11 Years

HOUSTON, TX — A Wisconsin man was sentenced this week in Texas after prosecutors said he traveled across the U.S. to have sex with a 4-year-old girl.

According to a report from WLIX, Benjamin D. Sherwood, 42, of La Crosse, Wis. was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison on charges of illicit sexual conduct and enticement of a minor.

In the case, prosecutors argued that Sherwood traveled from Wisconsin to Houston, Texas to have sex with a pre-school student. Prosecutors said he rented a hotel room, had child clothes and a stuffed animal in advance of the meeting with the girl.

He was as arrested in May following the online sting, in which Sherwood believed he was chatting with a mother who was offering her child for sex. The woman on the other end of the line was a special agent with Homeland Security Investigation's cyber unit.

According to a Chron.com report, the investigator originally encountered Sherwood during a 2015 undercover operation in a chat room for discussion and shared images about abuse of children and infants.

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