Anthony Parente
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), James C. Barnacle, Jr., announced criminal charges against ANTHONY PARENTE for communicating online and over the phone with an individual he believed to be a 14-year-old girl and attempting to meet the individual to engage in sexual activities. PARENTE was taken into federal custody on April 2, 2026, and presented before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy in White Plains federal court on April 3, 2026.
“There is little we take more seriously than protecting our children,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “As alleged, Anthony Parente targeted someone he believed to be a teenaged girl for explicit enticement to participate in sexual activity and then traveled into the Southern District of New York with the intention of engaging in sex with a minor. New Yorkers abhor this alleged conduct; it has no place here. Our prosecutors and our FBI partners are committed to identifying and holding accountable those who attempt to prey on our children.”…