A Trion man who admitted guilt in a child sex case was given a 51-month term in federal prison. In Chattanooga, Eric Daniel Lewis made an appearance before Judge Charles Atchley.
According to the prosecution, in March 2021, Lewis messaged a person on Facebook, mistakenly thinking it was a young guy.
The minor on the internet was, in reality, an FBI undercover agent.
The two started chatting online. Although the juvenile’s age of 16 had been mentioned on an online profile, Lewis was informed that the minor was just 14.
According to the prosecution, “the defendant made it clear that he was interested in meeting the minor to engage in illicit sexual contact” as soon as the conversation drifted to a sexual topic.
Lewis and the youngster were supposed to meet at a Chattanooga park. On May 6, 2021, Lewis left his North Georgia house and traveled to the park to meet the minor.
Lewis, who was 37 at the time of his arrest, walked away as soon as he saw someone was about to approach him. Afterwards, agents visited his workplace that day. Lewis acknowledged that he went to Chattanooga in part to have sex with the child.
After serving his full sentence, he will be placed on supervised release for a period of five years.