Soliciting a minor is a federal felony that occurs when an adult uses the internet, phone, mail, or any other interstate communication to try to persuade or entice someone under 18 into sexual activity. A conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum of life, plus fines up to $250,000, mandatory sex offender registration, and a long list of restrictions that follow the person for decades after release.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2422 – Coercion and Enticement Prosecutors do not have to prove a real child was involved. The attempt itself is the crime.
What the Charge Actually Requires
To secure a conviction, prosecutors must prove two things. First, the defendant communicated with someone they believed was under 18. Second, the communication was a deliberate effort to persuade or entice that person into sexual activity. The statute uses the word “knowingly,” which means an ambiguous message or a conversation that drifted into uncomfortable territory does not meet the threshold. The communication has to show a clear intent to arrange or encourage a prohibited encounter.
The actual age of the person on the other end is legally irrelevant. If an undercover officer poses as a 14-year-old and the defendant believes they are talking to a 14-year-old, the age element is satisfied. Federal law under § 2422(b) explicitly reaches attempts, so the offense is complete the moment the defendant uses interstate communications to try to entice someone they believe is a minor. No meeting has to occur. No real child has to exist.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2422 – Coercion and Enticement
Evidence almost always comes from the communications themselves. Chat logs, text messages, direct messages on social media, and emails create a permanent record. Investigators look for the point where ordinary conversation turns into active persuasion, specific sexual proposals, or arrangements to meet. General conversation with a minor on non-sexual topics does not qualify, no matter how inappropriate it may feel. The solicitation has to be a deliberate attempt to facilitate a sexual encounter.
The Federal Statutes and the Penalties They Carry
Nearly any solicitation case involving the internet, text messaging, or electronic communication falls under federal jurisdiction, because those systems use interstate networks. Two statutes do most of the work.
18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) targets anyone who uses mail or any means of interstate commerce to persuade or entice a person under 18 into sexual activity. Conviction carries a mandatory 10-year minimum and a maximum of life.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2422 – Coercion and Enticement
18 U.S.C. § 2423(a) applies when someone physically transports a minor across state lines with intent to engage in sexual activity. It carries the same mandatory 10-year minimum and the same maximum of life.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2423 – Transportation of Minors A case that starts as an online conversation and escalates to an arranged meeting can draw charges under both statutes, even if the defendant is arrested before arriving at the meeting location.
Both statutes direct that the defendant “shall be fined under this title,” which triggers the general federal fine provision in 18 U.S.C. § 3571. For an individual convicted of a felony, that caps the fine at $250,000, though a court can instead impose twice the financial gain or loss tied to the offense.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine
Why Most Cases Come From Sting Operations
The majority of federal solicitation arrests come from proactive investigations, not reports from actual children. Officers working through Internet Crimes Against Children task forces create profiles on dating apps, social media platforms, and chat rooms, pose as minors, and wait for adults to make contact. Once the conversation turns sexual or the adult tries to arrange a meeting, investigators document every message.
This is why “there was no real child” never works as a defense. The statute criminalizes the attempt, and the defendant’s belief about the other person’s age is what matters. The “minor’s” age is typically established early in the chat, and if the defendant kept going after seeing it, the belief element is in place. Time-stamped logs let prosecutors show a pattern of escalation rather than one message pulled out of context. Digital forensics tie the device and IP address to the person behind the screen, and deleted messages can often be recovered. The combination of the defendant’s own words and the permanence of digital evidence makes these cases extremely difficult to defend.
How Sentences Climb Above the 10-Year Floor
The mandatory 10-year minimum is a starting point. Federal sentencing guidelines assign a base offense level of 28 for § 2422(b) convictions, and several enhancements that are routine in these cases push the sentence higher.4United States Sentencing Commission. 2G1.3 – Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with a Minor
- Use of a computer or interactive online service to entice the minor adds 2 offense levels. Because almost every modern case involves electronic communication, this enhancement applies in the vast majority of prosecutions.
- Misrepresenting identity to lure or coerce the minor adds 2 levels.
- A custodial, parental, or supervisory relationship with the minor adds 2 levels.
- A victim under age 12 adds 8 levels, which dramatically expands the sentencing range.
- Actual sexual contact, as opposed to communication alone, adds 2 more levels.
These enhancements stack. A defendant who used a computer, lied about their identity, and targeted a child under 12 can face an offense level far above the baseline, and combined with any prior record the resulting range can approach a life sentence without the court ever reaching for the statutory maximum.
Defenses and Why Most Fail
Entrapment
Entrapment is the defense people most often expect to raise in a sting case, and it almost always loses. A valid entrapment defense requires proving that the government induced the defendant to commit the crime and that the defendant was not predisposed to commit it.5United States Department of Justice. Criminal Resource Manual 645 – Entrapment Elements Predisposition is where the defense usually collapses. If the defendant started the sexual conversation, sent explicit messages without being prompted, or quickly agreed to meet, the chat logs themselves show predisposition.
Providing an opportunity is not entrapment. An officer posing as a teenager in a chat room and responding when the defendant initiates contact is giving an opportunity, not inducing a crime. To win on entrapment, the defendant would need evidence that officers used pressure, manipulation, or sustained persuasion to push someone into conduct they otherwise would have avoided. That rarely matches what the logs show.
Mistake of Age
Claiming ignorance of the minor’s age is essentially unavailable at the federal level for § 2422(b) charges. The law looks at what the defendant believed, and in sting cases the stated age is almost always on the record early in the conversation. Some states recognize a “reasonable mistake of age” defense in narrow circumstances, but that does not apply to federal solicitation charges.
Lack of Intent
Defendants sometimes argue the exchange was fantasy or role-play with no intent to meet. This defense depends entirely on what the messages say. Concrete details like a meeting location, a time, or directions make the fantasy argument very hard to sustain. Courts look at the totality of the communications, and prosecutors are practiced at identifying the point where talk turns operational. Genuinely ambiguous messages that never move toward arranging a real encounter can sometimes block a conviction, which is why the specific contents of the logs matter so much.
Mandatory Sex Offender Registration
A conviction triggers mandatory registration under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. Registration begins after release and requires providing home address, employment, and vehicle information to local law enforcement, with recurring in-person check-ins to verify and update it.6SMART Office. SORNA In Person Registration Requirements
SORNA uses three tiers that set both the length of registration and how often the person has to appear:
- Tier I requires registration for 15 years with annual in-person verification. The period can be reduced by 5 years after 10 years with a clean record.7eCFR. 28 CFR 72.5 – How Long Sex Offenders Must Register
- Tier II requires registration for 25 years with in-person verification every six months. Federal solicitation of a minor for prostitution falls into this tier.6SMART Office. SORNA In Person Registration Requirements
- Tier III requires lifetime registration with in-person verification every three months. It covers aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a child under 13, and offenses by someone already classified as Tier II who then commits another qualifying offense.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 34 USC 20911 – Relevant Definitions, Including Amie Zyla Expansion of Sex Offender Definition and Kate Puzey Definitions
Failing to register or update registration is itself a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 2250, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2250 – Failure to Register That is a separate charge, meaning a late check-in or an unreported move can send someone back to federal prison on an entirely new case.
Travel, Passports, and Where You Can Live
Registered sex offenders must notify registry officials at least 21 days before any international travel.10SMART Office. SORNA – Information Required for Notice of International Travel Traveling without that notice is a separate federal offense carrying up to 10 years.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2250 – Failure to Register
Under International Megan’s Law, the State Department places a unique visual identifier on the passport of any registered sex offender and can revoke a passport issued without one. The marking is placed conspicuously, so foreign border officials see it immediately. It can only be removed when the person is no longer required to register, and many countries deny entry on sight.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 22 USC 212b – Unique Passport Identifiers for Covered Sex Offenders
Residency rules are set by states and localities rather than federal law. At least 22 states and hundreds of municipalities bar registered offenders from living within 1,000 to 2,500 feet of schools, parks, playgrounds, and daycare centers. In many cities the overlapping exclusion zones leave almost no legal address available. Some places add loitering rules that limit where a registered person can even spend time during the day.
Life After Prison
The sentence is only the start. A solicitation conviction produces consequences that touch almost every area of life, and most are permanent.
Employment is immediately affected. Federal law bars registered sex offenders from federally assisted housing, and the registration shows up on routine background checks. Positions involving children, healthcare, education, and government work are effectively closed. Professional licensing boards in many fields treat sex offense convictions as grounds for automatic denial or revocation. Even jobs with no formal bar become hard to land once the registry entry appears.
Family courts treat sex offense convictions as a major factor in custody. Supervised visitation or complete loss of custody is common, and some jurisdictions prohibit the convicted parent from living in a household with minor children, including their own.
Federal supervised release after prison typically runs at least five years for sex offenses and can extend to life. Conditions during that period often include internet monitoring, polygraph testing, mandatory sex offender treatment, GPS tracking, and restrictions on any contact with minors. Violating any condition can send the person back to prison.
Firearm rights are gone. A federal felony conviction permanently prohibits possession of firearms under federal law. Combined with the voting restrictions that some states apply to people with felony convictions, the loss of civil rights is broad, and in most cases there is no path to restoring it.