Ex-professor draws 10-year sentence
Posted on Thursday, August 7, 2008
A former chemistry professor at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for trying in online conversations to entice a 15-year-old girl to meet him for sex.
Although his conversations were actually with an undercover police officer posing as a girl, which he claimed amounted to illegal entrapment, Albert Snow was convicted April 17 of attempted enticement of a minor.
A federal jury heard testimony in the case for two days, then deliberated for about six hours before rejecting the entrapment defense and finding Snow, 33, guilty.
His sentencing hearing on Wednesday before U. S. District Judge Bill Wilson Jr. lasted just a matter of minutes, with Wilson being bound by federal law to impose a minimum sentence of 10 years.
The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which took effect on July 27, 2006, established a mandatory minimum 10-year sentence for child enticement crimes, including attempted enticement. When there is no actual victim, but instead an undercover officer pretending to be a child, the perpetrator is charged with attempted enticement.
Before the Adam Walsh legislation, the crime was punishable by a mandatory five-year minimum sentence.
The federal legislation came about as part of the government’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which began on Feb. 15, 2006, under then-U. S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The initiative pairs local and state law officers with the power of the federal government to concentrate on catching child predators, including those who solicit children for sex and those who distribute child pornography.
On Wednesday, assistant U. S. attorney Karen Whatley didn’t ask Wilson to impose a longer sentence than the minimum, and there were no objections or testimony for Wilson to consider.
Snow told the judge that he is appealing his conviction, and asked that he be allowed to remain free until the appeal is decided, but Wilson denied that request, saying he didn’t have that authority.
Wilson ordered Snow to report to federal prison by 2 p. m. on Sept. 22, in keeping with a common practice of allowing prisonbound defendants a month or more to get their affairs in order.
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