Little League Coach Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Entice Minor for Sex

Joseph Rocco Quaranta, 48, pleaded guilty on Nov. 20 to attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sex, according to a Justice Department press release. Quaranta faces a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life.

His sentencing date has not been set.

Graphic Text Conversation Lead to Arrest

On July 24, 2024, Detective Osthed from the Sheriff’s Office in Marion County, Fla., posed as a 13-year-old girl online, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Daily Muck. This decoy operation was part of an effort to “identify and apprehend” adults looking to use the internet to meet or otherwise “exploit juveniles for sexual activity.”

Osthed created a profile for 13-year-old “Stevie” on an online escort site. On the site, individuals can respond to ads by direct messaging. Stevie’s profile described her as a “young wanderer looking for answers” and claimed to be 19 years old.

Quaranta contacted Stevie online and, upon discovering her age, engaged in a sexually explicit conversation.

When they started communicating, Stevie asked Quaranta, “Are you okay w younger? Dont have a lot of expwrience.” To which Quaranta responded with “Umm,” then, “Are you affiliated with law enforcement?”

Over the course of the next few days, and throughout the text conversation leading up to the arrest, Stevie said multiple times that she was only about to be 14, saying, “You sure its ok that im younger? I feel like guys dont like that.” Quaranta responded, saying, “As long as u aint trying to set me up.” At one point during their text exchange, Quaranta and Stevie discussed chores and Quaranta told Stevie he had a chore for her, saying, “You have to get on ur knees.” When Stevie asked Quaranta what the chore was, he responded, “You on ur knees sucking my…”

Plans to Meet Up

The text conversation grew more graphic leading up to them making plans to meet up. Quaranta asked more about Stevie’s sexual experience – how many times she’d had sex and had she ever tried anal and whether or not she liked oral. He eventually sent a nude photo of himself. Quaranta finally made his move, and he and Stevie made plans to meet up in Ocala, where she was living with her mom.

The next day, July 25, Quaranta drove to a gas station in Ocala, Fla. He texted “Stevie” that he was at pump 18. Officers observed Quaranta while he was at the gas station and saw him wave to one of the detectives. However, Quaranta left without making further contact with the decoy. After leaving the gas station, authorities conducted a traffic stop and found the phone used to message Stevie.

While at the Marion County Sheriff’s office, Quaranta waived his constitutional rights and admitted to contacting Stevie through the escort site. He also “admitted to soliciting Stevie to commit sexual acts and traveling to meet her to commit those acts” and “to using his iPad and iPhone to communicate with Stevie.”

Following his arrest, Quaranta told deputies he was a local volunteer Little League coach.

The case was investigated by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the Ocala Police Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Chiefland Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations. It was brought as part of Project Safe Child – a nationwide initiative begun in 2006 to “combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.”

An Ongoing and Predominantly American Problem

The full extent of child sex trafficking in the United States is unknown, according to a Justice Department report. However, it is “pervasive and underreported.” Children between the ages of 14 and 17 are often “advertised and presented as adults, often appear to be adults, and are trained by traffickers to lie about their age to buyers and law enforcement.”

Though it’s a bit dated, the statistics from the above report are alarming. Prosecutions at the federal level for child sex crimes increased by 17% between 2019 and 2020 – children made up most of the victims (69%) in “newly charged” cases in 2020. More than 45% of the victims knew their trafficker.

An October 2024 Justice Department report stated that in 202, “of the 523 defendants charged with sexual exploitation and other abuse of children, 94% were male and 71% were white.” Furthermore, most of the defendants were American citizens at 97.5%.

Unfortunately, pedophiles all too often gain access to children through schools and sports. You can read about a similar case involving a youth tennis coach previously covered by The Daily Muck here.