McKinney Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Entice Boys for Sex

A McKinney man has pleaded guilty to charges of child exploitation after being arrested for arranging a sexual rendezvous with a male he believed to be a boy last summer.Stephen Chase Clark, 21, pleaded guilty to attempted coercion and enticement of a minor and receipt of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Texas announced Wednesday.According to court documents, as part of an undercover investigation dubbed Operation Zeus, law enforcement officers made contact with Clark as he chatted on social media with someone he believed to be a boy.Clark then engaged in sexual conversations with the person and asked for photographs. He was arrested on Aug. 28 at a McKinney location where he had gone anticipating sexual activity with the person.Investigators also found evidence of other sexually explicit chats between Clark and other young males, as well as chats about trading child porn, while searching his cell phone and social media accounts.Clark's plea agreement includes a sentence of more than 20 years, in prison but the actual term will be decided by a federal judge at sentencing, which has not yet been set.The case, investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Collin County Sheriff's Office, was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat such crimes.  Continue reading...