Internet Predator Sentenced To 10-Year Prison Term

By Andrew Gorosko

NEW HAVEN — An Enfield man this week was sentenced to more than ten years in prison, plus ten years of probation after prison, by a US District Court judge, following the man’s guilty plea last October to one count of attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity via Internet contact and also to one count of possession of child pornography.

Newtown police participated in the investigation into the man’s Internet activities.

On January 7, US District Judge Mark Kravitz sentenced Joseph Cote, 52, of Enfield to 123 months of imprisonment, plus the probation, according to a statement from US Attorney Kevin J. O’Connor. Cote had entered guilty pleas to the two charges last October 19.

Beginning in January 2006, Cote engaged in numerous Internet conversations with various persons he believed to be teenage girls under the age of 16 but who were, in fact, undercover law enforcement officers in Vermont and Connecticut posing as girls, according to Mr O’Connor.

Through these Internet conversations, Cote arranged with a Milford Police officer, working with the Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force and posing as a 14-year-old girl, to meet with him for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity, according to the US attorney.

On November 13, 2006, law enforcement agents observed Cote as he arrived at a coffee shop in Milford where he had previously arranged to meet the “girl.” Cote was arrested after arriving at the meeting location.

Following that arrest, Cote was later released from custody on $300,000 bail and was ordered to have no use of the Internet and no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18.

But in May 2007, Cote made Internet contact with a detective from the Newtown Police Department, who was posing as an underage female, according to Mr O’Connor. Notably, while posing as an underage female, that Newtown police detective had Internet contact with Cote before Cote was arrested in November 2006, according to the US attorney.

In May 2007, Cote and the Newtown police detective discussed plans for meeting in person, according to the statement.

Later in May, the Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force arrested Cote, after which his bail was revoked and he was detained until his January 7 sentencing.

In court on January 7, Judge Kravitz sentenced Cote to the mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of ten years for attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity, to a concurrent ten-year term for possessing child pornography, and to an additional three months of imprisonment for violating his bond.

Cote will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

The Newtown Police Department provided valuable assistance in the investigation into Cote’s activities, according to the US attorney.

Newtown Police Detective Jason Frank has conducted local police’s continuing series of investigations into Internet predators and has made subsequent arrests. In those cases, Det Frank poses as an underage female in chat rooms on the Internet, which the accused persons then allegedly seek to meet for illicit purposes.

Det Frank participated in the investigation into Cote’s Internet activities.