A 40-year-old Salem man was sentenced on Wednesday to nearly 11 years in prison for seeking sexually explicit images of children and trying to arrange to meet them for sexual contact.

The sentence comes five months after Gary W. Ronning pleaded guilty in January to attempted coercion and enticement of a minor.

Eugene U.S. District Court Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai also sentenced Ronning to 10 years of supervision after his release from prison. 

Ronning chatted online with three social media users he thought were girls between the ages of 13 and 15.

“Fortunately, undercover detectives were on the other end of the chats each time,” according to a sentencing memorandum by Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. McLaren.

The memorandum provides an account of the sting operation.

Ronning communicated between March and November 2023 with fake social media users posing as minors.

Before the first contact, police were not aware of Ronning and were trying to catch people luring minors.

Ronning sent explicit photos and videos to the users, and expressed his desire to meet with them to perform sex acts. He also requested that one of them send him “sexy” photographs.

“Ronning expressed awareness that his actions were illegal and repeatedly reminded the fictitious children not to tell anyone about his plans,” according to a Wednesday news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.

The FBI, the Redmond Police Department and the Salem Police Department investigated the case. 

Ronning has state criminal convictions dating back to 2004, including for domestic assault, menacing and unlawful use of a weapon.

“His foray into making sexual plans with multiple decoy minors, including plans to pick them up in secrecy, is deeply troubling. The severity of his choices giving rise to this case is offset only by Mr. Ronning’s unwillingness to follow through with those plans,” McLaren said in his memorandum.

The prosecutor noted that Ronning has “an extensive history of childhood trauma, difficulties in the foster system, substance abuse issues, and medical and psychological conditions.”

“The government agrees they very likely played a role in his choices to commit these offenses,” McLaren said. “The sentence is partly tempered by Mr. Ronning’s personal history and characteristics, his choice not to physically meet the purported minors, and his lack of previous similar offenses.”

As part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop additional charges of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, attempting to use a minor to produce a visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct and attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor.

Ronning was in custody at the Sheridan Federal Correctional Institution as of Thursday afternoon, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons roster.

Federal prosecutors in their statement encouraged anyone with information about the physical or online exploitation of children to call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.

Federal law defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor. “It is important to remember child sexual abuse material depicts actual crimes being committed against children. Not only do these images and videos document the victims’ exploitation and abuse, but when shared across the internet, re-victimize and re-traumatize the child victims each time their abuse is viewed,” prosecutors said in the statement. 

Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.

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