A Michigan man has been sentenced to more than 16 years in federal prison after attempting to entice a child for sex over the internet, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan sentenced William Isaak Sparks, 24, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, to 16 years and nine months in prison. After serving his sentence, Sparks will be subject to lifetime supervised release and must register as a sex offender. The court also ordered Sparks to forfeit a cellphone used during the offense. He pleaded guilty on April 3, 2025.
The case involved two separate incidents in May 2024 when Sparks interacted online with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as the father of an 11-year-old girl. According to prosecutors, Sparks described his intentions and asked the agent to purchase a bus ticket so he could travel from Michigan to Jacksonville for sex with the purported child. Before he could make that trip, authorities arrested him in Michigan as he attempted to meet another fictitious 11-year-old.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Township of Kalamazoo Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura Cofer Taylor.
“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,” officials said in a statement. “Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.”
More information about Project Safe Childhood can be found at www.justice.gov/psc.
