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A New York man pleaded guilty today to attempted coercion and enticement of a Suffolk minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.

According to court documents, from at least August 2020 through November 2020, Anthony Lynch, 59, who is a registered sex offender in New York, communicated with the out-of-state minor over the telephone and through various social media applications, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

In those communications, Lynch repeatedly demanded that the minor take explicit videos and photographs of herself for his personal use. When the underage victim did not comply, the defendant repeatedly threatened her, writing that the “war has started” and by claiming, among other things, that he would distribute intimate pictures of her over the internet and email the victim’s school with her information and claim that she was performing online sex shows. 

After a lengthy investigation, including a search warrant executed at his purported residence in Brooklyn, Lynch was located at a relative’s home in Chesapeake, and arrested.  

Lynch is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 13. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum penalty of life in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties, according to the release. 

A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Those making this announcement include: Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Brian Dugan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; and Al Chandler, Chief of Suffolk Police, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Wilson Hanes.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia also expressed its appreciation to the FBI New York Field Office and the San Francisco Police Department for their significant assistance in this case.

 Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Mozzi is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.