A Pittsburgh man was sentenced Wednesday to 10 and a half years in prison for conducting sexually explicit online communications and traveling to Virginia in an attempt to engage in a sexual relationship with a fictitious 10-year-old girl.
According to court documents, in November 2019, Brian Kosanovich, 58, then a firefighter in Pittsburgh, responded to a profile posted by an FBI undercover officer on a website that hosts a network of members interested in alternative forms of sexual relationships, including a variety of fetishes.
The undercover officer’s profile indicated that she was a single mother with a 10-year-old daughter.
After establishing contact on the website, Kosanovich and the undercover officer began communicating via an instant messaging application. Kosanovich and the undercover officer engaged in extensive conversations of a sexually explicit nature for several months, much of which focused on Kosanovich engaging in a sexual relationship with who he believed to be a 10-year-old girl, as well as the mother.
Over the period of the investigation, Kosanovich sent the undercover officer nude pictures and a prepaid credit card, so that the mother could buy certain items to use with the daughter.
Ultimately, in February 2020, Kosanovich drove from Pittsburgh to Richmond for the stated purpose of engaging in a sexual relationship with the mother and daughter, and he was arrested by FBI officials upon his arrival in Midlothian.
Raj Parekh, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Christopher R. Derrickson, acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge M. Hannah Lauck.
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