PADUCAH, Ky. – A federal jury convicted a registered sex offender today of attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Dustin R. Stone, age 29, of Greenville, Kentucky, was arrested on November 21, 2018, when he traveled to Paducah with the intent of having sex with a 13-year-old female he believed he was communicating with; in fact, Stone was communicating with undercover detectives with the Paducah Police Department.  Stone sent sexually explicit text messages to the investigators and further solicited the encounter through a series of phone calls with an undercover female detective.

In 2014, Stone was previously convicted of Attempted Use of Electronic Means to Induce a Minor in a sex offense in Muhlenberg Circuit Court.  He was ordered in that case to be placed on the sex offender registry for twenty years.

The jury found Stone guilty of Attempted Enticement and Commission of a Felony Involving a Minor by a Person Required to Register as a Sex Offender.

“Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leigh Ann Dycus and Raymond McGee did an outstanding job during the trial of this case,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett.  The investigation and prosecution of those who wish to sexually exploit and abuse our children is a high priority of this office.  I commend the Paducah Police Department for their outstanding investigatory work which resulted in the successful prosecution of the Mr. Stone, a previously convicted sex offender.”

“I’m thankful for and appreciative of the hard work of the Paducah Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit for ensuring this predator is off the streets of Paducah and other communities,” said Paducah Police Chief Brian G. Laird.  “Through our work and cooperation with the U.S. Attorney’s office, Stone was successfully prosecuted and convicted, and will not present a danger to our children for at least the next 20 years.”

Sentencing is scheduled for December 9, 2021.   Under federal law, Stone is facing a mandatory sentence of not less than twenty years imprisonment.   There is no parole in the federal system.

The General Investigations Unit of the Paducah Police Department is investigating the case.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Leigh Ann Dycus and Raymond McGee.

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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 the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals 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, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”