Published: July 18, 2008 10:27 am            

Man pleads guilty to child crimes; gets 10 years

Danie M. Huffman

wdreporter2@yahoo.com

Parents should beware of who their children are typing to in chat rooms.

Jeffery William Kozlovsky, 39, who held a teaching certificate and a teaching degree, pleaded guilty to charges of online solicitation of a minor, criminal solicitation of a minor/aggravated sexual assault of a child and for online solicitation of a minor to arouse/gratify/transmit sexually explicit material to a minor July 2, in the 43rd District Court under presiding Judge Don Chrestman.

Kozlovsky was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice followed by a period of supervision through 2018.

Parker County Assistant District Attorney Nikki Morton prosecuted the case and said Kozlovsky met who he thought was a 13-year-old female in April 2005, in an online chat room where teenagers were known to frequent.

The female was actually a Springtown Police officer working undercover in a sting to round up such offenders.

The pair began having regular conversations which lasted until September of that same year.

“It turned sexual in nature relatively quickly,” Morton said. “Kozlovsky sent illicit Web cam images of himself to a person he believed to be a minor child. An arrangement was made to meet at a local park in Springtown.”

Morton said Kozlovsky drove to the park thinking he would meet the teen girl, but met officers who arrested him Sept. 13, 2005.

At the time of Kozlovsky’s arrest, he gave authorities consent to search his vehicle and home.

Morton said officers found a map to the park and a condom in his car.

Law enforcement officers searched Kozlovsky’s home in Itasca and found child pornography on his computer.

As a result of the evidence seized at his home, Kozlovsky has a case pending in Hill County, where he faces additional child sex crime charges.

“We believe they were all obtained online,” Morton said of the child pornography photos seized at Kozlovsky’s home.

Kozlovsky’s defense attorney Michele Audet said only one photo was found which could be classified as child pornography.

Morton said during the course of prosecution, the Secret Service obtained evidence of other possible under-aged victims who Kozlovsky contacted.

She added Kozlovsky met other minor females, but no criminal activity occurred during the meetings and no additional charges were filed in those cases.

Audet said she plans to file a motion for her client to reappear before Chrestman after what she described as “shock probation” for the second degree felonies. She added after serving 180 days, and with Kozlovsky serving as a good role model in prison, he will be on probation for the remainder of the 10-year sentence, if approved by Chrestman.

“He’s only going to be in jail for 180 days,” Audet said. “Hopefully, it makes them never want to go back.”

She added Kozlovsky began serving his sentence Wednesday.

“It’s the same resolution we’ve been asking for the last three years,” she said, adding he was placed on an ankle monitor and reported weekly to Parker County, never missing a session during that time.

She also said Kozlovsky was evaluated by Yokefellows, where sex offender treatment and evaluations were performed on him by professional psychologists.

She said the test results showed “no arousal to young female girls.”

She agreed her client would benefit from counseling, but claims he “would not be a danger to society.”

“Is he going to do it again? I hope not. I don’t think so,” said Audet, admitting her client was “totally wrong” and “needs treatment.”

“He’ll be registered as a sex offender for the next 10 years,” she said, adding his teaching certificate was given up voluntarily and that he never taught in a school.

“As part of his punishment, Kozlovsky had to relinquish his Texas teaching certificate and will have to register as a sex offender for life,” Morton said. “This case emphasizes the need for parents to be aware of what their children are accessing online.”

        

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