Poole
KINGSTON – A Port Deposit, Maryland man was sentenced in Ulster County Court on Wednesday to 11 years in state prison followed by 10 years of post-release supervision for driving to Ulster County to have sex with underage girls he met online.
Daniel Poole, 49, pled guilty to criminal sexual act and rape, both as felonies. He admitted he had oral sex with a girl under the age of 15 in June of last year and that he had intercourse with a child under 17 in October of last year.
He was arrested on January 25, 2017 after he was spotted by Ulster County Sheriff’s deputies near a training exercise in the Town of Esopus while at the same time officers saw a young girl walking in a remote area.
Poole initially told deputies he was lost on his way to hunt for snow geese in Albany – he was dressed in full camouflage. He had a dead goose in his vehicle but did not have a New York hunting permit.
It was eventually determined he had traveled from Maryland to meet a minor and brought the goose as a decoy to show his wife when he returned home.
Investigation determined Poole had met the victim on a website in January 2016 when she was 14. The relationship continued for almost a year with continuous online communication. It became sexual including the exchange of inappropriate photographs. He first came to Ulster County in June 2016 when he met the victim near the remote location where he was found by police. He met the girl in New York for sex on two other occasions after she turned 15.
District Attorney Holley Carnright said it is critical that parents are aware that predators like this “really do exist and are engaging children online.”
