BALTIMORE – U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III last week sentenced Samuel Charles Hardeman, 55, of Easton, to 18 years in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity.

Hardeman had a previous federal conviction in a 2002 case in the Northern District of Georgia for use of a computer to entice a child to engage in sexual activity, for which he was sentenced to 174 months in prison.

Judge Russell ordered that, upon his release from prison, Hardeman must continue to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Acting Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Talbot County Sheriff Joseph Gamble.

According to his guilty plea, from Dec. 11, 2022, through Dec. 26, 2022, Hardeman engaged in conversations with an undercover law enforcement officer (UC) who purported to have a 10-year-old daughter. During the conversations, Hardeman expressed how he wanted to have sex with the 10-year-old, sent a video containing child pornography to the UC, and made plans to drive to New York, where the UC purportedly lived, to have sex with the 10-year-old.

Hardeman communicated with the UC by phone, including a video call, text and using encrypted messaging platforms. All of this occurred while Hardeman was on the sex offender registration for a previous federal sex offense conviction. During a call on Dec. 26, 2022, Hardeman expressed hesitation about traveling to New York to visit the UC and her daughter. The UC did not hear from Hardeman after that time.

On March 14, a federal search warrant was executed at Hardeman’s residence and several electronic devices were seized. A forensic examination of one of the phones revealed the encrypted messaging account which Hardeman used to communicate with the UC, a text message thread between Hardeman and the UC, photos sent to Hardeman by the UC at Hardeman’s request, the photos and videos that Hardeman sent to the UC, and dozens of images and videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Forensic examinations of several other devices and Hardeman’s Cloud storage account recovered additional images of child sex abuse material, including bestiality.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit justice.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, visit justice.gov/psc and click on the “Resources” tab on the left of the page.

Mr. Barron commended the FBI and the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office for their work in the investigation. He also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Spencer Todd and Paul E. Budlow, who prosecuted the federal case.