Sentencing scheduled for Trivette

By Jerry Sena

jtsena@wataugademocrat.com

Convicted Internet predator George Clayton Trivette, Jr., will be sentenced later this month in a Statesville Federal courtroom for attempting to lure what he thought was a 13-year-old girl to meet him for sex late one night nearly two years ago.

The girl was really an adult volunteer with an online watchdog group known as USCyberwatch. In mid-January of 2005, the group gave Boone police chat transcripts and digital recordings of phone calls from Trivette, as well as evidence linking the calls to Trivette’s phone.

Watauga school officials fired Trivette, 35, from his part-time job as an assistant cross-country coach after learning of the allegations against him.

Trivette’s sentencing is scheduled for the morning of Oct. 23 before U.S. District Judge Richard Voorhees.

His sentence could be anywhere from five to 30 years in federal prison. Trivette also faces a possible $250,000 fine and lifetime probation.

The Watauga County District Attorney’s Office had been prosecuting Trivette, a Zionville resident, on two state charges of secret peeping and the computer sex count. The district attorney dropped those charges after the U.S. Attorney took over the case in August 2005.

He’d been charged by Watauga County prosecutors with solicitation of a child by computer to commit a sex act in the original case.

The federal grand jury handed down its own charge Aug. 23,  2005. Trivette was arraigned two weeks later and his guilty plea entered Nov. 4.

In the plea, Trivette admitted to the indictment’s allegation that he “knowingly [attempted] to persuade, induce, entice or coerce a person under 18 years of age to engage in any sexual act for which any person may be criminally prosecuted.”

Trivette’s use of the Internet constituted an act affecting interstate commerce, making it a federal crime.

In the plea agreement, prosecutors have agreed not to bring charges based on evidence seized from Trivette’s home during execution of the original search warrant. Trivette will also avoid prosecution for any possible crimes resulting from a search of his computer and disks in March 2005.

Federal prosecutors also agreed to reduce Trivette’s sentence by as many as three levels provided he cooperates fully with authorities. He will also be required to register as a sex offender according to state law.