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Officials say the athletic trainer with ties to schools and a hospital in the Finger Lakes will spend 15 years in prison for enticement of a minor.
Austin Pratt, 32, of Conesus engaged in an ongoing relationship with a minor between November 2018 and February 2019.
Prosecutors said Pratt used social media to communicate, and encourage the victim to engage in a sexual relationship with him.
Pratt was employed by F.F. Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua and was contracted for different periods of time as an athletic trainer for some school districts in the region.
Pratt pleaded guilty in federal court to enticement of a minor in October 2020.
The charge carried a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, with a maximum of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa M. Marangola, between November 2018 and February 2019, Pratt engaged in an ongoing relationship with a minor while working as a school athletic trainer.
Marangola said Pratt used Instagram and Facebook to communicate with the minor, encouraging the victim to engage in a sexual relationship and to exchange sexually explicit photos with him.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the criminal investigation was carried out by the New York State police, the Rochester office of the FBI and the Livingston County District Attorney’s Office.
Syracuse man admits raping girl, 10, to send pics to another ‘girl’ (who turned out to be a man)
Updated Apr 22, 2021;
Syracuse, NY A Syracuse child rapist, whose case caused a political stir in 2019, will spend at least two decades in federal prison after admitting Thursday that he abused a 10-year-old girl so he could exchange explicit images with another 15-year-old girl he found on the internet.
Austin Pratt, 24, will be sentenced to between 20 and 30 years in prison after his plea Thursday to child exploitation and pornography charges, federal prosecutors in Syracuse announced.
In a bizarre twist, though, the “15-year-old girl” who Pratt exchanged pornography with over Instagram turned out to actually be an adult man, federal prosecutors said.
Syracuse man’s tossed child rape case comes back to haunt him
Updated Mar 15, 2021;
Syracuse, NY A Syracuse judge sent shockwaves through the local court system in 2019 when he dismissed a child sex case that included photos of the abuse, citing prosecutor error.
It set Austin Pratt, then 22, free from jail in a case that could have landed him in prison for 25 years to life. It became political fodder during the DA’s race that year.
But the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office won an appeal in 2020, reinstating the charges. Assistant prosecutor Maureen Barry had acted appropriately (though not perfectly), the appeals court ruled, and the charges should have gone forward.
John Paddock. (File photo courtesy of Keith Hershmiller Photography)
The WHL believes it’s important to hit the ice for a 2020-21 season to help young hockey players develop and not miss out on a full season.
In an emailed statement, the league said the league provides a development opportunity for many young hockey stars.
“Unlike professional athletes, WHL players are amateur athletes who find themselves at a critical juncture, working to develop their skills in an effort to one day attain their goals of competing professionally. To facilitate that continued development, returning to play is important and the WHL is going to exhaust all options in order to do so,” the league said.