SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Richard C. O’Hara, 32, of Broome County was sentenced today to serve 11 years’ imprisonment for attempting to arrange a sexual encounter with a minor. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
As part of his previously entered guilty plea, O’Hara admitted that in July and August 2020 he exchanged multiple sexually explicit messages online with an undercover officer posing a 10-year-old girl, in an attempt to entice the child into having sex with him. O’Hara also admitted that on August 5, 2020 he traveled to a house where he believed the child lived, intending to engage in sex acts with her that day.
Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy also sentenced O’Hara to a 15-year term of supervised release to begin after he serves his term of imprisonment. O’Hara also will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.
This case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Gadarian as a part of Project Safe Childhood. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
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