Earlier this year, members of the Child Safety Online Team set up a fake profile for the young man on Facebook, and in September he received a message from fitness instructor Mario Palumbo.
Bradford Crown Court heard on Thursday that the 33-year-old was still on prison license at the time after being sentenced to four years for making a serious threat to kill at Sheffield Crown Court in 2020.
Palumbo, of Smidles Lane, Bradford, was also assessed as a dangerous offender and given a three-year extension to his license in 2020.
On Thursday, Judge Sophie McCone ruled that although Palumbo had no previous convictions for sex offenses, she claimed she was only 26 during the sexual conversation with the decoy and that if she went, she would be responsible for her daughter or niece. I was informed that I had suggested that I would have to pretend. Go shopping together.
Prosecutor David McGonigal said the defendant called the decoy “sexy” and “beautiful” and sent her images of lacy underwear he thought she would like to wear.
Palumbo also sent the decoy a naked image of himself and described her as “absolutely adorable.”
McGonigal said members of the group located Mr Palumbo's address in Bradford, went to his home and tried to escape through the back door.
When he was arrested, Palumbo told them: Please do not report this to the police as it is unauthorized. ”
Mr Palumbo, who appeared in court via prison video link, pleaded guilty in October to two charges of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
His lawyer John Bottomley told the court his tearful client was upset, ashamed of his actions and recognized he had committed a serious crime.
Judge McCone sentenced Mr Palumbo to 40 months in prison and imposed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order restricting him from any further contact with people under the age of 16 and from using the internet.
He must also register as a sex offender for 10 years.
The judge said Palumbo wanted or believed he had contact with the 13-year-old girl and said his actions showed he had a sexual interest in children.
“You were very aware in your heart that you were dealing with a child,” she told Palumbo.
Mr Justice McCone said that although the child did not exist, Mr Palumbo believed she did and in his mind was contacting her in a sexually graphic way for his own sexual gratification. he claimed.
