Teh One Who Knocks
02-01-2021, 01:20 PM
By PETER HALL -THE MORNING CALL
https://i.imgur.com/wODmaKzl.jpg
A Connecticut mother who began a sexually explicit online relationship with a 14-year-old boy and traveled to the Allentown area to meet him was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.
Sarah Norton, 41, of Jewett City, Connecticut, was convicted in a trial in U.S. District Court in Allentown in December 2019 of attempted enticement of a minor and traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct. In addition to prison, U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Leeson sentenced Norton to serve 20 years of supervised release when she finishes her time behind bars.
Court filings say Norton first contacted the boy in August 2017, when they were both playing a game on internet-connected Sony PlayStation gaming consoles. Norton sent the boy sexually explicit messages through a chat function in the game that turned into berating him for not paying enough attention to her and not being an equal partner in their relationship, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Stephan wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
“Her constant barrage of messages to the child catapulted him even further into an adult ‘relationship,’ way beyond his level of maturity, experience, and understanding. In so doing, she interrupted and forever destroyed the child’s normal pace of development, maturity, and sexuality,” the memo says.
Norton discussed plans to meet with the boy near his home and asked when would be the best time to do so without his parents noticing.
In October 2017, Norton drove from Connecticut to Lehigh County where she checked into a motel. She met the boy in a park near his Upper Macungie Township home the next morning.
Norton testified in her trial that when she saw the boy she realized it was wrong and didn’t plan to see him again when he had to leave for a family lunch. Stephan said Norton’s testimony was belied by her cellphone records, which show she returned to the park and waited for him to reappear. It was during the family lunch that the boy’s parents realized what was happening and refused to let him go back to the park, Stephan’s memo says.
“Regardless, Norton stayed waiting at the park and sent text messages to the victim trying to make contact,” the memo says.
Attorney David Jay Glassman of Philadelphia wrote that the government never proved that Norton intended to have sex with the boy and argued that the 10-year mandatory minimum sentence would be sufficient to reflect the seriousness of her crime.
RBP
https://i.imgur.com/wODmaKzl.jpg
A Connecticut mother who began a sexually explicit online relationship with a 14-year-old boy and traveled to the Allentown area to meet him was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.
Sarah Norton, 41, of Jewett City, Connecticut, was convicted in a trial in U.S. District Court in Allentown in December 2019 of attempted enticement of a minor and traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct. In addition to prison, U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Leeson sentenced Norton to serve 20 years of supervised release when she finishes her time behind bars.
Court filings say Norton first contacted the boy in August 2017, when they were both playing a game on internet-connected Sony PlayStation gaming consoles. Norton sent the boy sexually explicit messages through a chat function in the game that turned into berating him for not paying enough attention to her and not being an equal partner in their relationship, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Stephan wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
“Her constant barrage of messages to the child catapulted him even further into an adult ‘relationship,’ way beyond his level of maturity, experience, and understanding. In so doing, she interrupted and forever destroyed the child’s normal pace of development, maturity, and sexuality,” the memo says.
Norton discussed plans to meet with the boy near his home and asked when would be the best time to do so without his parents noticing.
In October 2017, Norton drove from Connecticut to Lehigh County where she checked into a motel. She met the boy in a park near his Upper Macungie Township home the next morning.
Norton testified in her trial that when she saw the boy she realized it was wrong and didn’t plan to see him again when he had to leave for a family lunch. Stephan said Norton’s testimony was belied by her cellphone records, which show she returned to the park and waited for him to reappear. It was during the family lunch that the boy’s parents realized what was happening and refused to let him go back to the park, Stephan’s memo says.
“Regardless, Norton stayed waiting at the park and sent text messages to the victim trying to make contact,” the memo says.
Attorney David Jay Glassman of Philadelphia wrote that the government never proved that Norton intended to have sex with the boy and argued that the 10-year mandatory minimum sentence would be sufficient to reflect the seriousness of her crime.
RBP