The first of seven men arrested as part of a 2007 sexual predator sting in Bowling Green has pleaded guilty.

John Wesley Elliott, 39, of Marshall County pleaded guilty Monday morning in Warren Circuit Court to one count of first-degree attempted unlawful transaction with a minor. The class C felony carries a sentence of five to 10 years in prison if convicted; Elliott agreed to a seven-year sentence. The commonwealth will oppose probation, said Chris Cohron, commonwealth’s attorney for Warren County.

The sting was nationally broadcast Dec. 28 on NBC’s “Dateline: To Catch a Predator” show.

Elliott will also have to register as a sex offender in Kentucky for the next 20 years and will have five years of conditional discharge following his release from prison.

The sting involved the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, Cohron’s office and Perverted Justice, an advocacy group that targets pedophiles.

Elliott was the only one of the seven who did not cross state lines, Cohron said, which means all the other defendants also face federal indictments.

“We’re currently working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office on those prosecutions,” he said.

The other cases are strong, Cohron said, and if the defendants decide they want a jury trial, the prosecution is ready to proceed.

“When we started this, someone asked me what it would take to be considered a success. I told them if we had one prosecution it would be a success,” he said. “We’ve now got one prosecution of a man who traveled to Bowling Green whose sole purpose was to abuse a child.”

The sheriff’s office has continued to work with KBI and will soon present more cases involving the sting to prosecutors, said Major Randy Hargis.

“There were many individuals during the sting that had contact with the decoy that didn’t show up,” Hargis said. “We continue to investigate those individuals.”

Once charges against those people have been filed, more information will be available, he said. The cases could be in state or federal court.

“I was pleased that we were able to realize the fruits of our labor with this one prosecution,” Hargis said.

Representatives from Perverted Justice chatted with Elliott pretending to be a 12- or 13-year-old girl. He drove to Bowling Green believing he was meeting that girl.

The cases of Jeremy T. West, 27, of Springfield, Tenn.; Lorne L. Armstrong, 37, of Nashville; James T. Fowler, 34, of Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Richard M. Watwood, 41, of Hermitage, Tenn.; and Dustin McPhetridge, 26, of Kingsport, Tenn. – all facing the same charge of first-degree attempted unlawful transaction with a minor – are pending in Warren Circuit Court.

This effort was the third time NBC, KBI and Perverted Justice conducted a sting operation in Kentucky.