Burlington Man Sentenced to 35 Years in Federal Prison for Attempted Enticement of a Minor as a Registered Sex Offender

DAVENPORT, Iowa - A Burlington, Iowa man was sentenced on August 26, 2026, to 35 years in federal prison for two counts of attempted enticement of a minor and offense by a registered sex offender.

According to public court documents and evidence presented, in June 2025, Jermaine Robert Hill, 39, began chatting on Facebook Messenger with two undercover officers who posed as 14-year-old girls. During the chats, Hill explicitly described various sex acts he wished to engage in with them and sent explicit photographs and videos of himself. A few hours later, Hill arranged to meet them at a park in Burlington to engage in sex acts and was arrested. Hill was required to register as a sex offender at the time of this offense due to a 2015 conviction from Ohio.

In March 2026, following a two-day trial, a jury found Hill guilty.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Hill will be required to serve a ten-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney David C. Waterman of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Des Moines County Sheriff's Office, with assistance from the Burlington Police Department investigated the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.