Woman, 38, Guilty Of Trying To Have Sex With Boy, 14, In PA Hotel

PHILADELPHIA, PA – A 38-year-old Jewett City mother of three was found guilty in a jury trail of going to Pennsylvania to try and have sex with a 14-year-old boy, federal prosecutors said.

Sarah Norton was convicted of attempted enticement of a minor and traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, according to the Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Prosecutors said Norton met the victim while gaming online and "then used online and cell phone communications to attempt to seduce the victim into engaging in sexually explicit contact."

Norton traveled from her home in Connecticut to Pennsylvania to meet with the boy for sex in a hotel room that she had rented near where the child lived. Norton’s plan was foiled after the victim’s father became suspicious of the messages the victim had on his cell phone and interrupted the plan," prosecutors said

Norton faces a maximum possible sentence of lifetime incarceration, a mandatory minimum ten 10 years imprisonment, a mandatory minimum five years supervised release up to lifetime supervised release, a $500,000 fine, a $10,200 in special assessments.

“Those who sexually target children are among the most depraved in our society,” said U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain said in a DOJ press release.

“This is true no matter the gender of the offender or the excuses served up for this type of behavior. We will aggressively pursue and prosecute anyone who targets children for their own sexual gratification.”

According to local media reports in Allentown, she "first contacted the boy in August 2017 while the two were playing a game on internet-connected Sony PlayStation consoles. They exchanged sexually explicit messages in a chatroom and made plans to meet. On Oct. 14, 2017, she drove from Connecticut to Pennsylvania and checked into an Allentown-area motel. She met the victim the next day at a park near the boy’s home."

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 United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division's 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.