A Republic, Missouri, man was sentenced in federal court today for the coercion and enticement of a minor.
Clifford Benjamin Kinkade, 37, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Kinkade to 15 years of supervised release following incarceration and ordered him to pay $29,417 in restitution to his victim.
On Oct. 9, 2018, Kinkade pleaded guilty to using the internet and a cell phone to attempt to entice a child victim to engage in illegal sexual activity.
According to court documents, Kinkade met the 14-year-old child victim, identified as “Jane Doe,” online through one of her friends. They communicated primarily through text messages and through Kik and Skype. Investigators seized Kinkade’s computer, cell phone, and tablet, which contained messages between Kinkade and the child victim. Many of the messages were sexual in nature, where Kinkade described sexual activities he would like to engage in with Jane Doe and asked her to engage in sexual activity.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, the Greene County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, and the Kentucky State Police.
