MONROE — A Freeport man who crossed state lines to engage in sex with a minor he met online, was recently sentenced to 17 years in federal prison, officials said in a statement

According to the government, the man, Erich Brinkmeier, 27, pleaded guilty earlier this year to “one count of traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and one count of commission by a registered sex offender of a felony offense involving a minor.”

The defendant was already a registered sex offender when he traveled to Iowa to commit the crimes with a 14-year-old victim. U.S. District Judge Philip G. Reinhard in Rockford ordered that the prison term be followed by a lifetime of court-supervised release.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Ashley T. Johnson, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.  

Authorities added that the Freeport Police Department assisted their investigation. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica S. Maveus.

“Brinkmeier admitted in a plea agreement that in October 2019 he traveled from Illinois to Iowa to engage in sexual conduct with a 14-year-old minor he met online,” officials said. “Brinkmeier was a registered sex offender and was required under Illinois law to comply with the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.”

They said Brinkmeier also admitted to contacting another minor victim online and coercing her to send Brinkmeier sexually explicit images of herself.

He was on the sex offender registry already for being convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old when he was just 18. That charge required him to register as a sex offender for life but according to the Illinois Sex Offender registry, he was “non-compliant.”

It is unclear whether Brinkmeier was in custody at the time of the sentencing in federal court.