Matthew Burkhard

A man who was accused of trying to set up a sexual tryst with an undercover agent who posed online as a 14-year-old pleaded guilty in federal court.

Matthew Warren Burkhard, 36, of Tompkinsville, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green to a count of attempted online enticement of a minor.

Federal court records indicate that Burkhard was involved last year in online chats with a person he understood to be a 14-year-old girl.

The purported juvenile, however, was actually a law enforcement official taking part in an undercover investigation in Simpson County involving the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service and local law enforcement agencies.

“(Burkhard) arranged to meet with her in person, traveling from Tompkinsville … to Franklin for the purposes of engaging in sexual activity with a minor,” Burkhard’s plea agreement said.

Burkhard is said in federal court documents to have sent a message to the agent on Aug. 5 indicating he was traveling to Franklin, and the undercover agent requested Burkhard order some food from a nearby restaurant drive-thru near the motel where the two agreed to meet.

Police surveillance identified Burkhard’s car at the restaurant and confirmed he was driving, and he was arrested soon afterward outside the motel.

According to the terms of Burkhard’s plea agreement, federal prosecutors will recommend a sentence no lower than the 10-year mandatory minimum statutory penalty that the attempted online enticement charge carries.

Burkhard was one of two men arrested in August in Simpson County as part of the investigation.

The other man, Aaron Schultz, was sentenced to 127 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of attempted online enticement of a minor and attempted travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Schultz acknowledged traveling from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Franklin in early August of last year after chatting online with an undercover agent who held themselves out to be a 14-year-old girl.

Schultz and Burkhard were arrested on consecutive days last August.

Burkhard, who is being held in Warren County Regional Jail, will return to court July 17 to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Greg Stivers.