Prosecutors in Texas say a former California police officer must serve 10 years in federal prison for trying to lure someone he thought was a child into having sex.
Chad Michael Bennett of Odessa was sentenced Wednesday in Laredo. The 42-year-old Bennett pleaded guilty in March to attempted enticement of a minor.
Authorities say Bennett in 2015 placed an ad on Craigslist, then communicated online and via cellphone with someone he thought was the mother of a 14-year-old girl interested in offering the child for sex.
The person was an undercover officer.
Bennett in December 2015 flew from Odessa to Laredo to meet the girl and was arrested.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement statement says Bennett formerly was an officer with police departments in San Diego and Murrieta, California.
