Richard Chin, Pioneer Press –
A 59-year-old Apple Valley man – caught trying to pay for sex with an 8-year-old girl – was given a four-month jail sentence Wednesday, May 2, in Ramsey County District Court.
Gary Wills Brown pleaded guilty to soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct, admitting he planned to take a video of himself having sex with a girl at a hotel in St. Paul.
Brown’s efforts to arrange the sexual encounter led an informant to contact the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, who set up a sting operation that recorded phone conversations with Brown discussing a sex deal.
Brown said he agreed to pay $300 for sexual intercourse with an 8-year-old girl. He was to pay an additional $100 to video-record the encounter.
When he arrived at La Quinta Inn on Old Hudson Road on Aug. 29, he was carrying the money, a video camera, some candy and lubricating jelly. Instead of a girl, police were at the hotel waiting for Brown.
Brown’s 180-day jail sentence can be served in electronic-monitored home detention, work release or in a community service program if he is eligible for those options.
Judge Gary Bastian also gave Brown a 15-month prison sentence, to be stayed as long as he satisfies terms of a three-year probation. Among other things, he must register as a predatory offender, complete a treatment program, have no contact with people under 18 or vulnerable adults, possess no pornographic or sexually explicit material and have no access to the Internet without authorization
