CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD)- A Charleston man has been sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison following a fall 2020 arrest for explicit conservations with an undercover police officer he thought was a teenage boy.

Therence Jamison, 58, was sentenced after pleading guilty to attempted coercion and enticement of a minor.

According to prosecutors, Jamison — who is a registered sex offender — exchanged sexually explicit messages with whom he believed to be a 14-year-old boy on an online dating app.

In November 2020, Jamison arranged to meet the boy at his home to engage in sexual activity. When he arrived, he was met by an undercover officer and arrested.

“There is no place in our community for crimes against children,” U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs said. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office stands ready to seek justice for victims of child exploitation and hold predators accountable. We are grateful to our law enforcement partners who work tirelessly to help identify and prevent these crimes.”

U.S. District Judge Bruce H. Hendricks sentenced Jamison to 223 months — or about 18.5 years — in prison, to be followed by a lifetime term of court-order supervision.

“HSI is committed to protecting children in our communities from predators that seek to abuse and exploit them, ” said Ronnie Martinez, Special Agent in Charge for HSI Charlotte, which covers North and South Carolina. “This sentencing is the result of the hard work of the agents and officers of HSI and our state and local law enforcement partners, to identify and arrest sexual predators and bring justice to the victims.”

The Mount Pleasant Police Department, South Carolina Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and Homeland Security Investigations assisted with the investigation.