U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson has sentenced James Tyra Bowman, a 30-year-old from Appleton, Wisconsin, to 270 months in federal prison for child exploitation offenses. The sentencing follows Bowman's convictions for attempted coercion and enticement of a minor and attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor. After serving his prison term, Bowman will be under supervised release for five years, during which he must complete sex offender treatment and register as a sex offender.
Bowman used social media under the alias "Genius_Outlaw" while in Wisconsin to attempt an illegal sexual relationship with someone he believed was an 11-year-old girl in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He offered gifts to entice her into sexual acts; however, the supposed girl was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. Bowman sent explicit images of himself and requested similar content from the officer. He also planned to train the fictitious girl in illegal sex acts in Wisconsin before being arrested by law enforcement in January 2024. Bowman had prior convictions related to child sexual exploitation crimes dating back to 2017 in Wisconsin.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation, and Assistant United States Attorney Edward H. Warner prosecuted the case.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse. The project coordinates resources across federal, state, and local levels to locate and prosecute offenders exploiting children via the Internet while identifying and rescuing victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.