OKLAHOMA MAN SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS FOR TRAVELING TO OWENSBORO TO MEET MINOR

David L. Huber, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, announced today that GREGORY A. HUMPHREY, age 43, of Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, was sentenced in United States District Court, Owensboro, Kentucky, for two counts of traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. Judge Joseph H. McKinley, Jr., United States District Court, sentenced Humphrey to 5 years, plus 3 years supervised release following incarceration. There is no parole in the federal judicial system.

Humphrey had pled guilty to traveling from Oklahoma to Owensboro on two separate occasions, on November 25, 2005, and then again on January 26, 2006, to meet with a 15-year-old girl. Humphrey first met the victim in an Internet community, Gaia Online. Humphrey and the victim communicated almost daily through Gaia mail and also by telephone. The first time Humphrey traveled to Owensboro, he came to the victim’s residence at approximately 3:30 a.m. where he climbed through the victim’s open bedroom window. Humphrey stayed with the victim until approximately 7:00 a.m., while other family members slept nearby in the house.

After the November 25th meeting, Humphrey and the victim continued to talk by phone everyday, and they began to plan to meet again in late January. In early January, the victim told her mother and some of her friends that she had been communicating regularly with a 42 year old man. The victim’s family contacted law enforcement authorities who began an investigation of Humphrey with the victim’s cooperation. With the victim’s assistance, law enforcement officers recorded several telephone calls between Humphrey and the victim in which they arranged for their second meeting in January. Humphrey traveled to Owensboro where he intended to enter the victim’s bedroom again through the window. This time, he was met by federal agents and officers with the Owensboro Police Department, and arrested at the scene.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Marisa J. Ford and was investigated by the Owensboro Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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DLH: MJF: DM: 01/09/07