Child predator faces dozen years in federal prison

A Tompkinsville man was sentenced at U.S. District Court in Bowling Green to 12 years and 7 months in federal prison for attempted online enticement of a minor.

According to court documents, Matthew Warren Burkhard, 36, communicated with an undercover law enforcement agent he believed to be a 14-year-old female, and during those communications, he knowingly attempted to entice the minor to engage in criminal sexual activity by exchanging sexually explicit images and making plans to meet in person for sexual contact.

Once he completes his prison term, Burkhard will then have 20 years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

This case was investigated by the US Secret Service and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Bowling Green, while Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Nicholas Rabold, of the U.S. Attorney’s Bowling Green Branch Office, prosecuted the case.

“I commend the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Rabold during the prosecution of this case as well as the outstanding investigative effort by the Secret Service and HSI,” stated U.S. Attorney Michael Bennett. “Removing would be predators from our communities is key to keeping them safe for our most vulnerable citizens.”

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, an ongoing nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood brings together federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, you can go to www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about internet safety education, visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

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