A Howard man charged in a 2023 child predator sting in Centre County will spend years in federal prison following his sentencing on Friday.
Christopher L. Crispen, 33, was sentenced to seven years in prison by U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann, who recommended that Crispen serve the term at Allenwood federal prison in Union County, followed by 10 years of supervised release.
Crispen pleaded guilty in May to one felony count of attempted enticement of a minor.
He was among four men arrested in a November 2023 sting coordinated by the FBI, officers from Patton Township police, the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crimes Unit, the Lycoming County District Attorney’s Office and Williamsport police.
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed at the time, Crispen sent a series of messages to an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old boy. He discussed engaging in sex acts and arranged to meet the person he believed was a teen at a location in Patton Township and take him back to his home to have sex.
When he arrived, Crispen was taken into custody and admitted that he planned to “fool around” with a 15-year-old, investigators wrote.
Gregory Wilson, 51, of Mifflin County; Robert D. Mansberger, 58, of Huntingdon County; and Walter T. Sitosky, 66, of Clearfield County, were also arrested between Nov. 8-10 in Patton Township.
Wilson pleaded guilty in February to one count of attempted enticement of a minor and was sentenced in June to 8.5 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.
Mansberger pleaded guilty in August to the same charge. His sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
Sitosky is scheduled to plead guilty on Dec. 4 to one count of attempted enticement of a minor after entering a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in October.
