North Texas sex offender sentenced to 30 years for attempting to entice a minor

DALLAS — A north Texas man, who is a registered sex offender, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn to 30 years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release. This sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

Adam Joshua Cortez, 31, is most recently a resident of Justin, Texas. He was sentenced following his conviction at trial in May. In July 2011, Cortez used the Internet and a cell phone to try to entice an individual he believed to be a 14-year-old girl to have sex with him. That individual, however, was an undercover police officer.

Cortez had been twice convicted in state courts of offenses similar to child enticement in 2002 and 2004. In fact, the second of those convictions occurred while he was on probation for committing the first.

This case was investigated by the Garland Police Department's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lisa J. Miller and Leigha A. Simonton, Northern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.