HARRISBURG, PA — An Allegheny County man has been sentenced to 12¾ to 25½ years in state prison after pleading guilty to attempting to arrange sexual contact with someone he believed was a 12-year-old girl, who was actually an undercover Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office agent.
Lane Alan Simpson, 42, of Pitcairn, must also register as a sex offender for the rest of his life under the sentence imposed this week by an Allegheny County judge, Attorney General Dave Sunday announced.
Simpson pleaded guilty to felony counts of unlawful contact with a minor, criminal attempt to commit rape of a child and related offenses following an investigation by the Attorney General’s Child Predator Section.
According to prosecutors, Simpson communicated online with an undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old girl and arranged to meet the purported child for sexual activity in exchange for money.
Investigators said Simpson traveled to the agreed-upon meeting location, where authorities took him into custody.
At the time of his arrest, Simpson possessed the agreed-upon cash payment, condoms and candy that investigators had told him the purported child would like, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The investigation involved no actual child victim in the online exchange, as Simpson had been communicating with a law enforcement agent.
“This defendant — a man in his 40s — had every intention of meeting up with a pre-teen child for the purpose of sexual contact,” Sunday stated.
Sunday characterized the prison sentence as a measure intended to protect children from sexual exploitation.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Angela Raver.
Support the local news that supports Chester County. MyChesCo delivers reliable, fact-based reporting and essential community resources—free for everyone. If you value that, click here to become a patron today.