COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced a Kennesaw man has been sentenced for attempting to engage a minor in illegal sexual activity.
The U.S. Department of Justice released a statement saying Joshua Herrera, who was arrested in 2020, was under investigation after speaking with someone he thought was an 11-year-old girl and her mother. Instead, it was an undercover agent.
USDOJ said Herrera also asked about performing sex acts on a minor girl and requesting pictures of the 11-year-old. He then arranged to meet the girl he thought he was speaking to, driving from Athens to an area in metro Atlanta.
Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested him in January 2020 when he arrived, thinking he’d be meeting a child.
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Documents from federal court show that Herrera began speaking with the undercover agent in November 2019.
Affidavits submitted by federal agents say that Herrera first began speaking to the undercover agent after he responded to an advertisement posted on a website. Prosecutors say Herrera messaged the undercover agent about the post via Kik messenger app and wanted to meet with the user’s 11-year-old daughter.
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According to court records, the agent and Herrera continued speaking over Kik through Jan. 10 and Jan. 13, 2020, where they began planning where to meet for Herrera to “teach” the agent’s daughter sexual acts.
Prosecutors said Herrera drove to a Waffle House in Duluth on Jan. 16, 2020 to meet who he thought was the mother and her 11-year-old daughter. Instead, Herrera was approached by FBI agents and officers from the Gwinnett County Police Department.
After the case proceeded in court, Herrera went to trial in March 2023, records show. USDOJ said the trial ended after four days, and he was convicted on March 30.
“Online predators, like Herrera, mistakenly believe that they can anonymously exploit social media and apps to sexually abuse young children,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said in a statement. “But the tireless efforts of federal, state, and local investigators make it possible to hold these perpetrators accountable. We strongly encourage parents to remain vigilant in monitoring their children’s use of electronic devices and to immediately report suspicious activity to law enforcement.”
On Monday, Herrera was sentenced to 19 and a half years in federal prison, followed by a “lifetime of supervised release.” He will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release.
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