A former editor for the company that publishes the children’s newspaper Weekly Reader was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for soliciting sex from a minor.
Noel Neff, 47, of Norwalk, Conn., was arrested in 2005 in a shopping mall parking lot. Investigators said he had arranged to meet with a 14-year-old boy for sex; the boy was actually an FBI agent who had been exchanging instant messages with Neff for two months.
A federal jury in May convicted Neff of using Internet to induce a minor to engage in sexual activity, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 30.
Weekly Reader Corp. is based in Stamford, Conn., and publishes several periodicals for students.
The company fired Neff a few days after his arrest.
