ORLANDO, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Wendy W. Berger has sentenced Jeffrey Aronofsky (55, Orlando) to 20 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for attempted enticement of a child to engage in sexual activity.
Aronofsky had pleaded guilty on August 4, 2020.
According to court documents, in October 2019, Aronofsky engaged in an extensive online chat with an FBI agent who was acting in an undercover capacity and posing as the father of an eight-year-old boy.
During the online conversation, Aronofsky expressed interest in meeting with the father in order to sexually assault his minor son. Aronofsky also discussed gang-raping the child.
Furthermore, Aronofsky told the father that he had previously sexually assaulted several other children (including a five-year-old) in the Dominican Republic.
Aronofsky was arrested when he traveled to meet the father at a prearranged meeting place so that he could have sex with the eight-year-old boy.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily C. L. Chang.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.