ALEXANDRIA, La. – Acting United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that Stephen Andrew Cipkin, 38, a former tutor from Suffolk County in New York, has been sentenced by United States District Judge Dee D. Drell to 65 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for two counts of enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity.
Cipkin was charged in a Bill of Information and Indictment with enticement of minors to engage in sexual activity and pleaded guilty to the charge on August 13, 2024.
At the guilty plea hearing, Cipkin admitted that from January 2022, through April 23, 2022, he used a smart phone and computer to knowingly persuade, induce, entice, and coerce a minor female under the age of 18 years old to engage in sexual activity. Cipkin, posing as an adolescent female seeking a friendship, used an online catfish account to contact the minor victim. He later admitted to being a male and began an online relationship with the minor victim after gaining her trust. During this relationship, Cipkin asked the minor victim to send sexually explicit photographs of herself to him and also asked her to meet up with him for sexual intercourse. After receiving the photographs and videos, he used them as blackmail to extort and threaten the minor victim.
From April 16, 2022, through April 23, 2022, Cipkin traveled from the State of New York to Natchitoches, Louisiana, to meet with the minor victim. Cipkin picked up the minor victim from her home and brought her to a hotel in the Western District of Louisiana where they engaged in sexual intercourse.
Cipkin also admitted that between January 1, 2021, and continuing through January 1, 2022, in the Northern District of Tennessee, he used his smart phone and computer to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce another minor female under the age of 18 years old to engage in illegal sexual activity. Cipkin reached out to the minor female victim using an online account that he had created and began an online relationship with the minor female victim, asking her to send sexually explicit photographs to him and to meet with him for sexual intercourse.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Casey N. Stelly in the Western District of Louisiana.