A sexual predator from Pittsburgh who said he was a “perv for young girls” will spend 25 years in federal prison for trying to arrange a sexual tryst with a fictitious 10-year-old girl through her mother, who was also fake.
U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti imposed that term Thursday on Wayne McNutt, 58, who has a prior child sex conviction in Lawrence County.
McNutt had been nabbed in an FBI sting out of Albany, N.Y., and pleaded guilty in October to attempted coercion of a minor and attempted distribution and possession of child porn.
The case against him started in February 2021 when he contacted an FBI task force officer in Albany who was posing on social media as the parent of a young girl. McNutt made contact using the name “adadslove” and said he was a “perv” who wanted to engage in bondage with the child.
As part of his grooming efforts, McNutt sent gifts — a pogo stick and a turtle — to the girl and took a test for sexually transmitted diseases to prove to the mother that he was “clean.” He also sent the mother child pornography.
In time, he asked the mother to bring the child to Pittsburgh for sex and he would pay the expenses.
McNutt eventually made arrangements for the mother and daughter to travel to the Holiday Inn Express at the Waterfront in Homestead in the summer of 2021.
McNutt sent $400 to cover the travel costs. He then took a bus to the hotel on July 26, 2021, the day of the meeting, and agents arrested him when he arrived.
He was carrying lubricant and condoms with him and admitted to the agents that he planned to use them with the girl. His cellphone also contained child porn.
At the time of the arrest, McNutt was on state court supervision from a 2012 conviction for aggravated indecent assault of a child.
In addition to the 25 years in prison, Judge Conti ordered McNutt to be on probation for the rest of his life should he be released before he dies.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
