BOISE - Mark William Sharp, 42, of Boise, was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court to 60 months in prison followed by 5 years supervised release for attempted use of interstate facilities to transmit information about a minor, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced. As a result of his conviction, Sharp will be required to register as a sex offender. Sharp was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge David C. Nye. Sharp pleaded guilty on March 11, 2019.
According to court records, in November 2018, Sharp posted an advertisement on a dating website seeking sexual contact. In the ad, Sharp wrote that “age and status" did not matter. A detective with the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, posing as a 14 year-old girl, responded to the ad. During online communications with the detective, Sharp sent messages attempting to entice the person he believed to be a 14 year-old girl to meet him for sex. Sharp also asked the 14 year-old to send him a picture of herself in underwear. Later, the detective agreed to meet Sharp for sex, giving him an address to meet at. Sharp arrived at the location and was arrested.
The case was investigated by the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, and 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. As part of Project Safe Childhood, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office partner to marshal 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."
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
