CHARLOTTE – Shawn Steven Wilson, 33, of China Grove, was sentenced Wednesday to 142 months in prison for enticement of a minor using the internet, according to R. Andrew Murray, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr. ordered Wilson to serve a lifetime of supervised release and to register as a sex offender.

According to court documents and Wednesday’s court proceedings, Wilson responded to an online posting for people interested in engaging in sexual contact with a minor.

From Aug. 17 to Sept. 1, 2016, Wilson engaged in multiple communications with an FBI undercover employee posing as the minor’s parent. Wilson discussed his interest in engaging in sexual contact with the minor, who he believed to be an 11-year-old girl. He asked for naked pictures of the minor and made arrangements to meet her.

Law enforcement officers arrested Wilson when he arrived to meet the minor at an agreed-upon location for the purpose of engaging in sexual activities.

Wilson pleaded guilty last June to one count of online enticement of a minor. He is in federal custody and will be transferred to a federal prison. Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

Murray was joined in making Wednesday’s announcement by John A. Strong, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Charlotte Division, and Chief Kerr Putney of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.

The FBI led the investigation, assisted by Police Department.

The case was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse that was launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute people who exploit children on the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.