BRENTWOOD - A Newburyport, Mass., man was sentenced to 1½ to 4 years in state prison on Friday after pleading guilty to charges that he tried to meet a young boy for sex in Plaistow.

Hunter Bartlett, 56, pleaded guilty to attempted felonious sexual assault for meeting who he believed was a 15-year-old boy for sex, prosecutors said. A Plaistow police officer posed as the teenage boy as part of an undercover sting.

Bartlett was on probation out of Massachusetts on an accessory charge when he was arrested by police in Aug. 27, according to Assistant County Attorney Howard Helrich.

Bartlett solicited the online persona named "Alex" between Aug. 25 and Aug. 27 on a web site called manhunt.net before taking a taxi to Plaistow with plans to meet the young teen for sex, according to prosecutors. Bartlett and the undercover officer communicated "by texting, and by telephone conversation, and arranged a meeting at a residence in Plaistow," where they planned to have a sexual encounter, an indictment says.

A team of police officers watched Bartlett get out of the cab at the Park and Ride lot on Westville Road and go looking for the boy before taking him into custody.

Bartlett has been held at the Rockingham County jail in Brentwood since his arrest. Judge Marguerite Wageling quizzed Bartlett about giving up his right to trial before accepting his plea. Bartlett will be required to register as a sex offender and must undergo a sex offender assessment at the state prison. The assessment will determine whether Bartlett will have to enroll in the state prison's Sex Offender Program or undergo community treatment, according to terms of the plea deal. If Bartlett completes the Sex Offender Program, the minimum portion of his prison sentence would be suspended.

Bartlett was ordered to no longer use the Internet or have contact with minors after his release from prison.


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