Ohio pedophile walks seven miles for sex with decoy 'underage girl' soon after girlfriend delivers baby girl, caught
An Ohio sex offender who was caught on video walking seven miles to meet and have sex with a '15-year-old girl', who was actually an undercover police officer, has been sentenced to two years in prison.
In October, 36-year-old Steven Prest pleaded guilty to counts of attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, Fox 8 reports.
A judge jailed Prest for two years on October 28 as part of a plea deal, requiring him to register as a sex offender for 25 years. The plea agreement meant prosecutors would drop another count of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, and charges of possessing criminal tools and importuning.
That said, Prest was among more than two dozen people who were caught by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force on July 9 in a massive sting operation against sex offenders.
What's more? Prest had just welcomed a baby daughter with his girlfriend of four years when he walked out of the hospital and set off a 6.8-mile trek to meet the '15-year-old girl' with whom he had been exchanging messages for some time.
But in reality, Prest had actually been communicating with an undercover officer, prosecutors said. "I definitely like you", Prest wrote in one of his texts to the bogus teenager. "Or I wouldn’t take the risks I’m already taking."
However, he was surrounded by police as soon as he reached a convenience store near the place he was supposed to meet the girl, thereby leading to his arrest.
During interrogation, Prest admitted that he "played along" with the undercover officer in disguise. "There was some sex talk back and forth", he said. "We'll do this. We'll do that… I played along."
But social media posts from the suspect and his girlfriend indicate that despite his arrest, they have stayed together. The woman set up a fundraising page to collect donations for Prest's bond while he was remanded in custody.
"Steven got caught up in some dumb s*** (yet again)", she wrote in the description. "He needs to be able to be here for our daughter."
Furthermore, Prest shared on Facebook he "got married" just three weeks after his arrest.
Prest first became a registered sex offender after a 2013 conviction on a charge of solicitation of a minor in Tennessee, which resulted in a two-year prison sentence.