GEORGIA MAN SENTENCED TO DECADE IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR INTERNET SOLICITATION OF MINOR AND OBSTRUCTION

Pensacola, Florida - United States Attorney Gregory R. Miller, Northern District of Florida, announced today that Mark Segalla, 49, of Winder, Georgia, was sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Lacey A. Collier to 10 years in federal prison for using a computer to persuade, induce, entice or coerce a minor female to engage in sexual activity and for obstruction of justice. After serving his prison term, Segalla will be on supervised release for the rest of his life. As a result of his conviction, Segalla must register as a sex offender.

A jury convicted Segalla of both crimes in September. The jury heard evidence that the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office conducted an undercover online investigation through “Yahoo Chat,” during which an investigator posed as a 15-year-old female resident of Milton, Florida. For a period of fifteen months, Segalla “chatted” with whom he believed to be “Lori.” The government introduced evidence of Segalla’s “chat logs,” in which he used sexually explicit language to tell “Lori” that he wanted to have sex with her, and wanted her to return to Georgia to live with him. The jury heard evidence that in May 2005, Segalla told “Lori” he was traveling from Georgia to Texas and asked her to meet and spend the night with him in Milton. Days before traveling to Florida in June 2006, Segalla told “Lori” what he wanted to do with her sexually. He made arrangements to meet “Lori” at a Santa Rosa County restaurant, where he was arrested as he approached an undercover Santa Rosa County Deputy posing as “Lori.” After his federal indictment, the Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered that Segalla had instructed his brother to perform a “total destructive restore” on his computer. The brother testified that after leaving Segalla’s home in Winder, Georgia, he met with Segalla in Milton, where Segalla told him to “destroy” Segalla’s computer after the brother left Florida.

This case resulted from the cooperative law enforcement efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office. Praising the work of both agencies, United States Attorney Miller agreed with the argument of the prosecutor, Assistant United States Attorney Tiffany H. Sims: “Children lose their innocence because of the predatory practices of men like Segalla.” United States Attorney Miller affirmed the commitment of his office and federal agencies in partnership with State and local agencies to vigorously work to protect the children of the Northern District of Florida from this danger.