United States Attorney
Southern District of New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 22, 2008 CONTACT: U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
YUSILL SCRIBNER,
REBEKAH CARMICHAEL,
JANICE OH
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
(212) 637-2600

MANHATTAN CONSULTANT SENTENCED TO TEN YEARS IN PRISON FOR ATTEMPTING TO ENTICE A MINOR TO ENGAGE IN SEXUAL ACTIVITIES
MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that PAUL HINKLEY was sentenced yesterday to ten years in prison on charges of attempting to entice a person he believed to be an eleven-year-old girl to engage in sexual activities. HINKLEY pleaded guilty on March 20, 2008, in Manhattan federal court to one count of using the Internet to attempt to entice a minor to engage in sexual activities and one count of traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual activities with an individual under eighteen. HINKLEY, 71, was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge LEWIS A. KAPLAN. According to the documents filed in the case and statements made during the guilty plea and sentencing proceedings:

From January through July 2007, HINKLEY engaged in Internet conversations with “Cassie,” an individual HINKLEY believed to be an eleven-year-old girl, and “Sheryl,” whom HINKLEY believed to be “Cassie’s” mother. In fact, both “Cassie” and “Sheryl” were an undercover officer with the Cañon City Police Department in Cañon City, Colorado. During these conversations, HINKLEY explicitly and graphically described to both “Cassie” and “Sheryl” the sexual activities he planned to engage in with them when the three met in person.

In the Internet conversations and in several telephone calls with the undercover officer, HINKLEY invited “Sheryl” and “Cassie” to travel to New York and agreed to pay for hotel and meal expenses during their visit. HINKLEY also used his credit card to reserve a hotel room for the nights that he believed “Sheryl” and “Cassie” would be in New York. He also agreed to pick them up at the airport when they landed. In a conversation that took place on June 26, 2007, HINKLEY told “Sheryl” that “this is a glorious threesome i am looking forward too.”

On July 16, 2007, HINKLEY drove to Newark Liberty International Airport from New York, intending to meet “Sheryl” and “Cassie” on the flight the undercover told him they had boarded. Agents located HINKLEY standing outside the arrivals area of the terminal where the flight was scheduled to land. Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") called the cellphone number that he had provided “Sheryl” in an Internet conversation, and when HINKLEY reached into a pouch to answer the phone, agents placed him under arrest.

In the car HINKLEY drove to the airport, agents found rope, an enema bottle, condoms, and Viagra. HINKLEY admitted to FBI agents after the arrest that he intended to have sex with both “Sheryl” and “Cassie,” that he believed “Cassie” was eleven years old, and that he intended to use the rope to “tie her up.”

HINKLEY is the founder of JMJ Cross Enterprises, a Manhattan engineering consulting business.

Mr. GARCIA praised the investigative efforts of the FBI and the Cañon City Police Department in this case.

Assistant United States Attorney DAVID A. O’NEIL is in charge of the prosecution.