Bannock County man sentenced for enticing minors
Phillip Francke, 23, was arrested and charged in April on 16 felony counts of enticing a child through the internet.
He was in court Friday for sentencing.
Francke’s arrest came after a four-month child pornography investigation by the Soda Springs Police Department. According to police reports, officers found evidence in Francke’s home. Officers discovered electronic devices with conversations with minors and child pornographic images.
Police were able to discover three fake Facebook accounts Francke was using to talk to minors. Records state there were three known victims of enticement – ages 11, 12 and 13. Police said Francke also had set up a time to meet one of the victims before he was arrested.
In exchange for a guilty plea, Francke’s charges were dropped to three felony counts of enticement – one for each victim.
There was a rule 11 plea agreement in the case that the judge followed.
On Friday, the judge sentenced Francke to 10 years, with 2 years fixed and 8 years indeterminate.
Since his arrest, Francke has had reports of poor behavior in jail. He also had additional charges filed against him for battery while in jail. Because of this, the judge had a serious warning for Francke about his sentence.
“Mr. Francke, I want you to understand that if you continue to act as you’ve done in local incarceration in prison, I can almost guarantee you you’ll serve 10 years. Do you understand that? You better fix it. You better figure it out,” Brown said.
Brown also imposed a $1,600 fine. He also set a no-contact order for each of the victims.
Francke was also given a psychosexual evaluation which showed moderate to high risk of re-offending. Because of this, the prosecution stated that Francke’s only saving grace was the fact that no actual physical contact had occurred with any of the victims.
Francke has a history of harassment and aggressive behavior charges in Bannock County. He has previous charges of harassment over the phone and stalking.
Francke will appear in court in Bannock County in October for other pending charges.
He is currently being held in the Caribou County Jail.
