Memphis, TN – 54 year-old Billy Ray Wyatt was talking online to Federal agents at least once when he thought he was soliciting a teenager for sex. According to Edward L. Stanton III, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, beginning in February of 2012, Wyatt used the internet and social media to meet young females and groom them for sexual encounters.
After meeting one 16-year-old girl from Henry County, Wyatt drove to pick her up and took her back to Kentucky with the intent of having a sex.
Authorities say Wyatt also communicated online and made overtures to an agent acting in an undercover capacity as a teenage female. In a recorded phone conversation, Wyatt talked to her about masturbation and what sexual acts he wanted to perform on her.
54 year-old Billy Ray Wyatt, Hazel Ky, was sentenced to 10 years or 120 months in federal prison Friday following his guilty plea to one count of coercion of a minor to engage in sexual activity.
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge J. Daniel Breen ordered Wyatt to serve five years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal prison system.
This case was investigated by the Henry County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Task Force.
