Miss. man gets 10 years in sex trafficking case

Associated Press - November 20, 2009 7:44 AM ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Mississippi man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole for attempting to have sex with underage prostitutes.

Thirty-4-year-old Christopher M. Cockrell of Armory, Miss., was sentenced in Kansas City federal court Thursday. He pleaded guilty in July to attempted commercial sex trafficking of a child.

Prosecutors say Cockrell traveled to Kansas City in March after seeing an online advertisement for children who would perform sex acts. The ad was posted by undercover officers and no children were involved.

Cockrell was arrested after paying $80 to have sex with what he thought was a 15-year-old girl.

He was 1 of 7 people indicted through the sting operation, the first in the nation to charge customers of child prostitution.