Acting United States Attorney Karin Hoppmann announces that a federal jury has found Michael Craig Gorycki (50, Titusville) guilty of attempted enticement of a 13-year-old child to engage in sexual activity.
Gorycki faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison, and a potential lifetime term of supervised release. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for August 12, 2021. Gorycki has been detained since his arrest on August 7, 2020.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, in August 2020, Gorycki engaged in online chats with a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) task force agent who was acting in an undercover capacity and posing as the father of a 13-year-old girl. During the online conversation, Gorycki expressed interest in meeting the father in order to gain access to and sexually assault his minor daughter.
Gorycki expressed in detail his intention to rape the child and teach her to perform a specific sexual act. Gorycki was arrested when he traveled to meet the father at a prearranged meeting place in Titusville so that he could have sex with the 13-year-old child.
This case was investigated by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Emily C. L. Chang and John M. Gardella.
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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. 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.