Pennsylvania man gets 10-year prison sentence for online enticement of minor following HSI Newark investigation

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. — A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to 120 months in prison for his conviction on online enticement of a minor to engage in prostitution following an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark.

Louis Goldenberg, 41, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced Jan. 27 at the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. He previously pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of attempted online enticement of a minor to engage in prostitution.

“Goldenberg’s sentence is a result of HSI’s commitment to protect vulnerable children from online child sexual exploitation and abuse,” said HSI Newark acting Special Agent in Charge Spiros Karabinas. “Thanks to our long-standing partnership with the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, the Mount Laurel Police Department, and the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, we were able to identify and remove this predator from our community.”

According to the investigation, in August 2023, Goldenberg began interacting on a messaging application with an undercover agent, who was posing as a middle-aged woman with a 12-year-old niece. From August through September 2023, Goldenberg messaged the undercover, continuously expressing interest in having sexual contact with the minor. During one of the conversations, Goldenberg indicated a specific hotel in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey where he wanted to have sex with the minor. On Sept. 18, 2023, Goldenberg traveled from Pennsylvania to the Mt. Laurel hotel, where he had a reservation for that evening. When Goldenberg arrived, he was arrested by law enforcement.

In addition to the prison term, Goldenberg was sentenced to five years of supervised release and was ordered to register as a sex offender.

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Know2Protect (K2P) is a national public awareness campaign from the Department of Homeland Security. K2P’s aim is to educate and empower children, teens, parents, trusted adults, and policymakers to prevent, combat, and report online child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information, please visit our YouTube playlists at Know2Protect Campaign PSA Playlist and Know2Protect Digital Safety Series Playlist on the DHS main channel. Additional resources are available at know2protect.gov, Instagram, Facebook and X.