GARDEN CITY, Mich. – A Garden City man is going to prison after he abused a small child, asked 50 parents for sexually explicit pictures of their kids, and tried to get an undercover agent to send a video of a child.
Officials said Collin Patrick Valenti, 25, of Garden City, thought he was talking to the parent of a young child when he asked an undercover law enforcement officer to create and send a video of a sex act involving the parent’s child.
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“This offender requested that another individual create a horrific image of sexual abuse,” United States Attorney Dawn Ison said. “We can only be thankful that he was communicating with an undercover law enforcement officer and not another abuser so that he could not cause harm to another minor.”
Valenti pleaded guilty to attempted sexual exploitation of children. He was sentenced Monday (Feb. 6) to 15 years in federal prison.
Police said Valenti abused a small child on a different occasion. He also pretended to be a teenage girl online to trick a teenage boy into sending sexually explicit pictures.
Valenti admitted that he would often request sexually explicit pictures of children from people he believed to be their parents. That happened around 50 times, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“This office will continue to work with law enforcement agencies as they proactively work to find and stop those who seek to exploit and abuse children,” Ison said.