An Orlando man will spend nearly two decades behind bars for attempting to entice an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old boy into sex by sending the agent pornographic videos of young boys being sexually assaulted.
Ethan Lipper was sentenced to spend 19 years and 7 months in federal prison for attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity on Friday, November 17. Lipper pled guilty to the charge in June.
According to court records, on January 16, 2023, a detective with the Oviedo Police Department posing as a 14-year-old male was contacted through a social media application by Lipper.
In a group chat called “Orlando Teens,” Lipper began communicating with the agent, sent pictures of himself, and shared his cell phone number in an effort to entice the child into a sexual encounter.
Lipper sent the agent posing as a child a total of six videos, at least two of which contained child sexual abuse imagery.
One of the videos depicted an adult male sexually assaulting a child who was approximately 9 to 11 years old, according to court records. Lipper told the undercover agent that he wanted to perform similar acts with the child.
Lipper traveled to an address in Oviedo on February 1, 2023, in order to meet up for a sexual encounter with the child. Upon arrival, he was taken into custody and his cell phone was seized.
During a forensic review of Lipper’s cell phone, over 100 images and videos of child sexual abuse imagery were located. The majority of the images depicted children approximately five to ten years old. Some of the images depicted children under the age of five, including an infant.
Lipper’s cell phone also contained multiple conversations between he and other individuals between the ages of 12 and 17 years old.
In the conversations, which Lipper had through a social media account, Lipper asked for sexually explicit images of the minors. Some of the minors provided him with the requested images.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation says that it has interviewed five of these children to date and that it is searching for remaining potential victims.
Anyone with information about potential victims is asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-225-5324.