PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Corvallis man was sentenced to 15 years in prison Tuesday after he was convicted of attempting to entice a minor online, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
According to court documents, Thomas Anthony Lanier, 24, has been a convicted sex offender since he was 18.
In 2019, court documents said that Lanier attempted to kidnap the one-year-old child of a woman he had met online in Sunnyside, Washington.
While the woman was taking a shower, Lanier is alleged to have grabbed the child and when the woman ran outside for her, he grabbed her by the neck and threatened to kill her.
Lanier was released pending a trial in Yakima County, officials said.
In 2020, the attorney’s office said that Lanier met a woman in Keizer, Oregon and pressured her to seek babysitting jobs so he could have access to children.
After expressing a desire to have sex with the woman’s 12-year-old cousin, officials said the woman contacted police.
In July of that year, the woman worked with Salem Police Department to capture Lanier by telling him an address in Salem where her cousin lived.
According to the attorney’s office, Lanier had intended to buy alcohol and then meet the woman and her cousin at the house to engage in sexual activities with both of them, but when he arrived police arrested him.
In 2021, a federal grand jury charged Lanier with attempting to entice a minor online, accessing with intent to view child pornography, illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and committing a felony offense involving a minor as a registered sex offender.
On January 5, 2023, Lanier pled guilty to attempting to entice a minor online and illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and was sentenced to 15 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release.
