Texas Man Sentenced for Online Enticement of a Minor
LEXINGTON, Ky. /Friday, September 18, 2026 – A Big Springs, Texas, man, Mark Coulter, 35, was sentenced on Friday to 25 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell for online enticement of a minor to engage in sexual conduct.
In January 2025, Coulter "friended" a minor victim on Facebook and began an online “relationship,” consisting of communicating via online messaging platforms, such as Snapchat and Facebook. During the course of the conversations, Coulter admitted to knowingly enticing the minor victim to engage in sexual acts with him. In June 2025, Coulter traveled from his home in Texas to Kentucky to visit family and meet the victim to engage in sexual activity, in which some of the sexual acts were recorded using a cellphone.
"Predators should understand this: the internet is not anonymous, and a screen will not shield you from law enforcement or the consequences of your actions. This defendant used the internet to target a child and then traveled across state lines to engage in sexual activity with the child," said U.S. Attorney Jason Parman. "A 25-year federal prison sentence demonstrates the seriousness in which we treat these crimes."
Jason Parman, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Olivia Olson, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office, jointly announced the sentence.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Roth prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
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Contact
CONTACT: Gabrielle Dudgeon
PHONE: (859) 685-4887
E-MAIL: gabrielle.dudgeon@usdoj.gov
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Kentucky
