COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A 35-year-old central Ohio man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for having sex with a child and distributing child pornography on the Internet.
The Columbus Dispatch (http://bit.ly/UL5vmm ) reports that 35-year-old Patrick Mahoney was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Columbus.
Authorities said that Mahoney was caught trying to hook up with an investigator posing as a 15-year-old girl. He then admitted to having sex for six or seven years with a girl who is now a preteen.
A search of his Columbus home turned up child pornography on his computer.
Investigators monitoring Internet chat rooms said Mahoney told them he was interested in sex with children as young as 4 years old. A federal prosecutor called his offenses "horrifying."
___
Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com
