Sentenced for soliciting

March 30, 2019 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

A Lisbon man will serve a three-year prison term for soliciting an undercover officer he thought was a 12-year-old boy.

Franklin Thorne, 49, was sentenced Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, according to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

In February, Thorne pleaded guilty to five counts including disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, disseminating matter harmful to juveniles and importuning, which is soliciting someone for sex.

The Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force and county deputy sheriffs arrested at the Thorne Motel in Center Township where he lives.

Maj. Jeff Allen of the sheriff’s office told 21 News that Thorne offered $50 to have sex with someone he thought was a 12-year-old boy.

Allen said the “boy” was an undercover officer.