COLUMBUS (WCMH) — A 56-year-old Lancaster man previously convicted of sex crimes against minors has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to sexually coerce a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

Larry Richard Dickerson was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to 186 months in prison and a lifetime of supervised release, according to the office of Acting United States Attorney Vipal J. Patel, Southern District of New York.

According to court documents, in May 2020, the Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was holding undercover online chats to find people attempting to solicit in illegal sexual activity with minors.

Dickerson and an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old made contact on social media, at which point Dickerson allegedly requested nude pictures of the teen. According to Patel’s office, Dickerson asked the girl to send him a topless picture with “Rick” written across her chest so he would know she was not a cop.

Court documents state that during a phone call between Dickerson and the undercover officer, Dickerson asked several questions about the supposed girl’s sexual history as well as other sexually graphic questions.

Patel’s office states the two then made a plan to meet in person. When Dickerson arrived at the meeting location, he was arrested.

Dickerson was previously convicted in 2002 and sentenced to 21 months on a child pornography charge in South Carolina. In 2018, he was convicted in Delaware County with three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor based on communications via an app and his subsequent meeting with and sexual abuse of the child. He was on parole at the time of his 2020 arrest.