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The United States Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday that Rayne Allen Wolery, a 30-year-old resident of Belgrade, was sentenced in a Helena courtroom to a term of 180 months in prison, supervised release for 10 years, and forfeiture of computer and cell phone.

Wolery was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to attempted sexual exploitation of children.

According to court documents, in June of 2009, a Montana mother contacted law enforcement with concerns that Wolery had been corresponding with her daughter via Facebook.

Wolery had met the 14-year-old girl briefly in a chance encounter at a marina near Helena, then looked her up on Facebook and contacted her. Wolery's conversations turned sexual and law enforcement became involved.

With permission, law enforcement in Helena took over the girl’s identity and Wolery continued the contact via computer and the Internet.

In the ensuing conversations, Wolery sent explicit pictures of himself, and asked her to show them to another of her friends. In addition, Wolery instructed the “girl” and her friend to take sexually explicit photographs of themselves and send them to him.

Wolery was subsequently arrested and a search warrant was served on his residence in Belgrade. Authorities seized a desktop computer and cell phone that Wolery had used to communicate with the “girl.”

When questioned, Wolery admitted sending the pictures of himself, which are obscene because he believed he was sending them to a 14-year-old girl and her 14-year-old friend.

He also admitted that he directed the two “girls” to take sexually explicit pictures of themselves and send them to him.