MARYLAND MAN CHARGED WITH ATTEMPT TO ENTICE MINOR TO ENGAGE IN SEXUAL ACTIVITY

Nashville, TN - May 15, 2006 - Barry Thomas Goldsborough, a Laurel, Maryland resident, has been charged with Attempt to Entice Minor to Engage in Sexual Activity, announced Jim Vines, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Goldsborough was arrested by complaint and warrant on May 12, 2006, and is being detained in federal custody pending an initial appearance before a magistrate judge in Maryland, which is scheduled today.

According to the affidavit filed in connection with the criminal complaint, in early November 2005, defendant Goldsborough began chatting on the Internet with a detective from the Franklin Tennessee Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force who was posing as a twelve year old girl named “Melissa.” Goldsborough befriended “Melissa,” eventually engaging in sexually explicit chat with her. Over the course of the six month investigation, Goldsborough mailed sexually charged clothing to “Melissa” and transmitted images of himself masturbating, through the use of a web cam. Goldsborough expressed an interest in traveling to Tennessee to have sex with “Melissa” and eventually offered to send a bus ticket to her so that she could travel to Maryland to have sex with him there.

On May 10, 2006, Franklin Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children Detective Charles Warner, who is assigned to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Violent Crimes Task Force in Nashville, Tennessee, obtained a federal warrant for Goldsborough's arrest. Detective Warner, along with Special Agents of the FBI's Innocent Images Unit located in Calverton, Maryland, arrested Goldsborough outside of his Laurel home early Friday evening. Goldsborough currently is being held in Maryland but will be extradited to Nashville where a federal judge will hear the case.

This is one of the first investigations conducted by the Franklin Police Department's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, according to Chief Jackie Moore. The strong partnership between the Franklin Police Department's Task Force and the FBI facilitated the arrest of Goldsborough, a delivery driver who works for an ice cream company.

The public is reminded that a complaint merely represents an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless he is proven guilty.