TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA– James Deon Korfhage, 37, of Griffin, Georgia, was sentenced yesterday to 240 months in federal prison, after pleading guilty in December 2015 to enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity. The sentence was announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
According to testimony at sentencing, in March 2015, Korfhage met a 17-year-old minor through a website on which he used a false name and represented himself to be a 19-year-old. Korfhage arranged to meet and have sex with the victim in Tallahassee. On March 4, 2015, Korfhage drove from the Atlanta, Georgia, area to Tallahassee. The victim crept from her parents’ home and met Korfhage, who drove her to a local hotel where the two had sex. Law enforcement agents later discovered that the victim had sent Korfhage nude photographs of herself and that Korfhage had taken photographs of the victim during their sexual activities.
On April 24, 2015, Korfhage was arrested in Georgia on the indictment charging him with using the internet to entice the minor victim to engage in sexual activity. Within minutes of being contacted by police, Korfhage deleted the photographs he had taken of the victim from his cellular telephone. However, a forensic examiner was able to recover them later. The examiner found that Korfhage’s phone also contained other child pornography images.
At sentencing, the government offered evidence showing that Korfhage routinely used the internet to solicit minors for sex. The government also introduced evidence that, while pending trial, Korfhage offered to pay others to intimidate the victim and dissuade her from testifying.
U. S. Attorney Canova praised the work of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, and the Gwinnett County Police Department, whose joint investigation led to this successful prosecution. U.S. Attorney Canova noted that, “While the internet offers great opportunities for education and entertainment, it also allows anonymous strangers to prey upon vulnerable children. As parents and as prosecutors, nothing is more important than the protection of children.”
“This criminal has stolen from our society. He has robbed children of their innocence and left them with a lifetime of recovery,” said Susan L. McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. “This case is an example of how social media can be used to harm children, and we encourage all parents to stay engaged in their children’s digital presence to stop these unimaginable crimes.”
After incarceration, Korfhage will serve 10 years of supervised release, during which he will be required to complete sex offender treatment, will be prohibited from unsupervised contact with children, and will be subject to a search of his residence, possessions, and electronics. He will be required to register as a sex offender in any location where he resides, works, or attends school.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jason R. Coody and Michael T. Simpson.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.
For more information, contact:
Amy Alexander, Public Information Officer
(850) 216-3854, amy.alexander@usdoj.gov