DELHI, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – A Utica man has been sentenced to a three-year term of probation supervision after attempting to pursue a sexual relationship with who he believed was a teenage boy.

Delaware County Acting District Attorney Shawn Smith announced that Paul Thayer, 41, was convicted of Attempted Dissemination of Indecent Materials to a Minor in the Second Degree. He was sentenced on September 18 by the Honorable Judge John Hubbard after a pre-sentence investigation was performed by the Delaware County Probation Department. The sentence includes specific sex offender terms and conditions.

On May 2, Thayer drove from Utica to the Village of Walton to meet a person he believed to be a 14-year-old boy after sending the teen several sexually charged messages. However, said boy was not a real person but a fictious entity created by an organization dedicated to catching sexual predators.

Thayer admitted he believed the boy was 14 years old and on August 28, pleaded guilty to the charge of Attempted Dissemination of Indecent Materials to a Minor in the Second Degree.

Smith commended the thorough work of Officer Kathryn Mitchell of the Walton Police Department in this case.