Source: United States Department of Justice News
Miami, Florida – A federal district judge in Fort Pierce, Florida this week sentenced a 47-year-old Orlando man to 355 months in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for attempting to sexually entice a minor and committing an offense involving a minor while required to register as a sex offender.
In August 2021, Joseph Furey Lusk engaged in sexually explicit chats with someone in Martin County, Florida he believed was 15 years old. During weeks of sexually explicit chats, Lusk encouraged her to send him nude images and videos of herself and friends engaged in sexual activity. In addition, Lusk sent several photographs of his erect penis through text messages. Lusk’s attempt to entice occurred less than one month after his release from state custody on a 2018 Florida state conviction for traveling to meet a minor – a conviction that required him to register as a sex offender.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office announced the sentence that U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon imposed.
HSI Miami (Fort Pierce office) investigated the case, with assistance from Martin County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacey Bergstrom is prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-14036.
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