An Evansville high school teacher has been federally indicted and charged with traveling across state lines to Owensboro for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a person he believed to be 15 years old. The charges were the result of a joint federal, state, and local operation called Operation Angel, aimed at making federal arrests of sexual predators who prey upon children in the Owensboro area.
A federal grand jury in Bowling Green returned a three-count indictment Wednesday against 27-year-old Cody McCormick, of Evansville. The other two charges were attempted enticement of a minor and attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor, according to court documents.
McCormick faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison for the enticement charge. McCormick also faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for the charge of interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the obscenity charge. If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence imposed upon McCormick after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. There is no parole in the federal system.
McCormick will make an initial court appearance on a later date before a U. S. Magistrate Judge of the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in Owensboro.
The operation, which was led by the United States Secret Service, included the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky, the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General, the Kentucky State Police, and the Owensboro Police Department.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
