Clarksville Man Pleads Guilty To Intent To Engage In Sexual Conduct With Preteen

Monday, July 21, 2025, 9:45 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

ALBANY, NY.- Last Monday, a 37-year-old Clarksville, Tennessee, man, and a now convicted child predator, learned that he could be spending up to the next three decades in federal prison after pleading guilty to a federal charge of traveling from Tennessee to upstate New York to engage in sexual conduct with someone he believed to be a preteen girl.

     According to Acting U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone, III, on Monday, July 14, 2025, Donald Jenkins, 37, of Clarksville, Tennessee, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Anne M. Nardacci to one count of Interstate Travel with Intent to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct with a Minor.

     Following entering his guilty plea last Monday, Judge Nardacci accepted the plea and scheduled sentencing for November 12, 2025. At that time, Jenkins faces a mandatory minimum of ten years and up to 30 years in federal prison, as well as at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. At sentencing, Judge Nardacci will determine the term of imprisonment based on the seriousness of the offense and Jenkins’ prior criminal history.

Jenkins Admits To Driving To Engage In Sex With A Minor

     According to court documents and statements made during Monday’s plea allocation, Jenkins admitted that in September of 2024, he began an online conversation with an individual to discuss and plan his sexual abuse of someone he believed to be an 11-year-old child residing in Clifton Park, New York. Jenkins ultimately devised a plan to rent a car in Tennessee and drive to Clifton Park to sexually abuse the preteen child.

     On November 19, 2024, Jenkins arrived at a prearranged location in Clifton Park, New York, and was immediately taken into custody and charged. Jenkins further admitted that he obtained a sexually transmitted disease test earlier in the day and brought multiple pairs of children’s underwear as a gift to the purported preteen child.

     U.S. Attorney Sarcone stated, “No matter where you reside, if you try to prey on children in the Northern District of New York, we will find you, arrest you, and seek to convict you and punish you to the fullest extent of the law.”

     The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.