By Khalida Sarwari
A 51-year-old San Francisco man convicted on charges for attempting to solicit a minor online was sentenced to 78 months in prison Monday at a United States District Northern California Court.
Gary Wayne Ross, a native of Canada, was convicted on July 28 on charges of communicating with “Nikki Daley” via a regional Yahoo! Chat room. The 13-year-old girl Ross thought he was chatting with revealed herself to be an undercover deputy for the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department, according to the Department of Justice.
Evidence presented at the trial revealed pornographic photographs and videos sent by Ross to “Nikki” as well as an arrangement to meet her at her house in Martinez, according to the Department of Justice.
Ross took along with him “Nikki’s” telephone number, condoms, and graphic pornography in preparation for the meeting. He also took along personal lubricant, which he claimed during trial that at the time of his offense he was using for a medical condition known as Peyronie’s Disease, according to the Department of Justice.
Printouts of a Web site that Ross claimed to have viewed in 2005 to obtain his self-diagnoses and presented in court were revealed to be fraudulent as indicated by documents filed by the government prior to sentencing.
According to the Department of Justice, U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong found that Ross had obstructed justice during the course of the trial.
Ross committed the offense months before a new law passed by Congress increased the mandatory minimum sentence to 10 years and the maximum sentence to life imprisonment. Ross faced a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in custody and a maximum sentence of 30 years.
