An Indian-origin man from Canada has been sentenced to four years in the United States over charges of attempting to have sex with a minor girl.
The US District Court in Phoenix handed 57-year-old Dilbagh Singh from Ontario, Canada, was facing a prison term of up to 30 years for the crime.
He received a 46-month prison sentence on Monday after Singh pleaded guilty to the charge of international travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
According to court documents, Singh began an online relationship in January this year with someone who he believed to be a 15-year-old girl.
Over the course of nearly four months, Singh told the girl that he wanted to engage in various sex acts with her.
In May 2017, Singh travelled from Canada to Flagstaff, Arizona, to meet the girl and to have sex with her. He was arrested from a hotel that he checked into with condoms and alcohol in his possession. He later discovered he had been chatting with an undercover agent instead. The Homeland Security's Investigations wing investigated this case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse in the US.
