To Catch A Craigslist Predator: Attempted Statutory Rapist Gets 10 Years

A man who traveled across state lines to have sex with a child in Watertown, but walked into a police sting instead, was sentenced in Boston on Tuesday.

Authorities say Paul R. Hinkel, 57, of Chester, Conn., will do 10 years in prison, and five years probation for attempting to entice or coerce a minor into sex online in February of 2014.

Hinkel exchanged hundreds of emails with a federal agent pretending to be a Watertown mother offering her 15-year-old daughter up for sexual favors on Craigslist, according to the court’s statement.

He finally agreed to make the trip to Massachusetts on March 19, 2014, and arrived at his imaginary Lolita’s home with a bag containing sexual paraphernalia, men’s cologne, and a stuffed animal, says the U.S. District Court.

Read the full press release here.

Sign up for Watertown Patch newsletters and alerts here.