SIOUX FALLS - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, man convicted of Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet. The sentencing took place on March 15, 2023.
Kent Mews, age 56, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $5,100.
Mews was indicted by a federal grand jury in March of 2022. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 20, 2023.
The conviction stemmed from an incident on March 6, 2022, when Mews attempted to use his cell phone to knowingly persuade and coerce an undercover agent, posing as a 15-year-old male, to engage in sexual activity.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Sioux Falls Police Department, Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office, South Dakota Highway Patrol, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
Mews was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys