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Steven Cipkin, 38, of Suffolk County, was sentenced to 65 years in prison in Louisiana federal court on Wednesday, May 21, after admitting to online enticement of minors.
Cipkin admitted that from January to April 2022, he used online platforms to pose as an adolescent girl and contacted a minor in Louisiana, gaining her trust. After revealing his true identity, Cipkin continued the communication, asking her to send sexually explicit photos of herself and to meet up with him for sex.
After receiving the sexually explicit photos and videos, Cipkin used them as blackmail to extort and threaten the victim, prosecutors said.
In April 2022, Cipkin traveled from New York to Natchitoches, Louisiana, where he picked up the minor victim at her home and drove her to a hotel, where the two had sex.
In a separate case, Cipkin admitted to persuading another underage girl in Tennessee to engage in illegal sexual activity between January 2021 and January 2022, according to investigators.
Cipkin was arrested and charged following a multi-jurisdictional investigation involving law enforcement agencies in New York, Louisiana, and Tennessee. He pleaded guilty to two counts of enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity.
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