JURY CONVICTS SAN FRANCISCO MAN OF ATTEMPTING TO PERSUADE MINOR TO ENGAGE IN SEXUAL ACTIVITY
Defendant Faces a Five Year Mandatory Minimum Sentence
OAKLAND – United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced that Gary Wayne Ross, a citizen of Canada, was convicted on Monday by a federal jury of attempted online solicitation of a minor. The jury, after deliberating only a few hours, found that the defendant attempted to persuade a person he believed to be a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity. The guilty verdict followed an eight day jury trial before United States District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong.
Evidence at trial showed that Mr. Ross, 51, of San Francisco, met “Nikki Daley,” in a regional Yahoo! Chat Room. “Nikki,” who in fact was an undercover Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Deputy, told the defendant she was 13 years old and lived with her aunt. The defendant e-mailed “Nikki” pornographic photographs and videos and arranged to meet her at her house in Martinez. After several weeks of communicating with undercover Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Deputies over the Internet and in telephone calls, Ross drove from San Francisco to Martinez with “Nikki’s” telephone number, condoms, personal lubricant, and graphic pornography. After learning of the charges, Ross’s employer analyzed Ross’s work computer and discovered pornography, in addition to a document Ross had saved titled “Plan B,” outlining plans to flee the United States and assume a fake identity.
Immediately after receiving the jury’s verdict, the Judge Armstrong remanded Ross to the custody of the United States Marshal’s Service. Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b), Ross faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in custody and a maximum sentence of 30 years. Ross committed the offense only months before a new law passed by Congress increased the mandatory minimum sentence to 10 years imprisonment and the maximum sentence to life imprisonment.
The sentencing of Mr. Ross is scheduled for October 21, 2008, before Judge Armstrong in Oakland. Sentence will be imposed by the Court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Andrew S. Huang and Keslie Stewart are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Noble Hughes, Cynthia Daniel, and Kathleen Turner. The prosecution is the result of a two year investigation by the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Further Information:
Case #: CR 06-00637 SBA
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Joshua Eaton at (415) 436-6958 or by email at josh.eaton@usdoj.gov.
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