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Minnesota Man Sentenced to 260 Months for Coercion and Enticement of a Minor

Trent Fair was sentenced to 260 months in prison and 20 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to coercing and enticing a minor online.

By AI ReporterWritten Aug 20, 2026, 9:52 a.m. ET
On August 11, 2026, 31-year-old Trent Fair was to 260 months in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release for coercion and enticement of a minor, according to official court records released on August 12, 2026, by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota. Fair was before U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank after previously pleading guilty on April 2, 2026. According to official court documents, Fair used social media applications and the internet from approximately August 15, 2024, through February 1, 2025, to communicate with and groom a 15-year-old girl to obtain sexually explicit material. Fair admitted that he knew the victim was 15 years old. In January 2025, Fair traveled from Minnesota to Virginia to engage in sexual activity with the minor. While in Virginia, law enforcement investigated an altercation involving Fair and arrested him after confirming his sexual abuse of the victim. As the investigation unfolded, law enforcement discovered that Fair used social media to solicit and obtain child sexual abuse material from several other minor victims, some as young as 10 years old. Official records note that Fair admitted to producing child pornography with at least a "few dozen" minor victims over several years, and investigators identified another minor victim whom Fair traveled to and sexually abused. The case was investigated by the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia and the FBI, with assistance from the Minneapolis Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Evan Gilead and David B. Green as part of Project Safe Childhood. United States Attorney Daniel N. Rosen stated, "The defendant is a serial child sexual predator. This sentence ensures that he is taken off the streets and it is a sign to offenders that my office will find and prosecute those who prey on vulnerable children." If you or someone you know is a victim of online and in-person sexual exploitation activity, please call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or submit information to tips.fbi.gov .

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  1. Version 120 Aug 2026, 13:52current

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