To Catch a Predator · Fort Myers investigation
Thomas Coffen
Also reported as Thomas William Coffen
Thomas Coffen was convicted following the Fort Myers sting. He received 29 months and three days in prison, three years of probation, and lifetime registration.
Photo: To Catch a Predator Wiki
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Evidence
- Attributed reporting
- Jurisdiction
- Fort Myers, Florida
- Encounter
- Not established
- Decoy posed as
- Girl7
- Case number
- 06016086CF
Personal details
- Born
- September 26, 1974
- Marital status
- Divorced
- Height
- 6′2″
- Weight
- 250 lb
- Hair
- Blonde
- Eyes
- Blue
Charges & sentence
06016086CF
Sentence
29 months and three days in prison with 172 days credited, three years of probation, lifetime registration, and court costs.
Attributed to the sources below. Consult the original record for full terms.
Case records
06016086CFHansen investigation · Lee County, Florida · 2006 · Sentenced
- Case number
- 06016086CF
06016086CF
Sentence · Oct 13, 2006
29 months and three days in prison with 172 days credited, three years of probation, lifetime registration, and court costs.8
Original Florida case number and initial allegations confirmed in first-appearance/arrest documents; final three conviction labels and sentence remain community reported because the initial order has blank plea/sentence fields. Separate Pennsylvania dockets do not alter the sting sentence.
MJ-12105-TR-0003329-2004Separate criminal matter · 2004 · Sentenced
- Case number
- MJ-12105-TR-0003329-2004
- Filed
- Jun 3, 2004
MJ-12105-TR-0003329-2004
Driving while operating privilege suspended or revoked
Convicted2
Sentence · Aug 18, 2008
Monetary penalty and costs; docket separates the motor-vehicle assessment from other fees.2
- Other condition: 200 USDTitle 75 motor-vehicle assessment; other listed court costs are separate.2
May 2004 is offense year, not plea year; the guilty plea occurred August 18, 2008. Traffic summary offense, not a felony.
Sources 2
MJ-12304-TR-0001185-2020Separate criminal matter · 2020 · Charged
- Case number
- MJ-12304-TR-0001185-2020
- Filed
- Sep 6, 2020
MJ-12304-TR-0001185-2020
Driving while operating privilege suspended or revoked
Unverified3
Printed July 24, 2026 docket remains inactive/awaiting plea with disposition blank. October 2021 summons cancellation is not dismissal. No imposed sentence.
Sources 3
Separate criminal matterUnverified · 1 of 2
Community account reports a 2016 arrest for driving with a suspended license. Jurisdiction, formal filed charge, docket and disposition are unknown. No conviction or sentence inferred from arrest alone.
Sources 9
Separate criminal matterUnverified · 2 of 2
Community account reports a 2017 arrest for marijuana possession. Jurisdiction, formal filed charge, docket and disposition are unknown. No conviction or sentence inferred from arrest alone.
Sources 9
CP-38-CR-0000439-2019Separate criminal matter · 2021 · Sentenced
- Court
- Lebanon County Court of Common Pleas
- Case number
- CP-38-CR-0000439-2019
2 counts · 2 convicted
CP-38-CR-0000439-2019
Sentence · Feb 10, 2021
Six to twenty-three months on possession and four to twelve months on paraphernalia. Concurrency is not stated.4
Distinct docket. Exact per-count sentences retained with concurrency unknown; no total calculated. The summary omits count three in the registration case, so no count-three label or disposition is invented.
Sources 4
CP-38-CR-0001824-2019Separate criminal matter · 2021 · Sentenced
- Court
- Lebanon County Court of Common Pleas
- Case number
- CP-38-CR-0001824-2019
2 counts · 2 convicted
CP-38-CR-0001824-2019
Sentence · Feb 10, 2021
Six to twenty-three months on theft; receiving-stolen-property count merged for sentencing.4
Distinct docket. Exact per-count sentences retained with concurrency unknown; no total calculated. The summary omits count three in the registration case, so no count-three label or disposition is invented.
Sources 4
CP-38-CR-0001401-2020Separate criminal matter · 2021 · Sentenced
- Court
- Lebanon County Court of Common Pleas
- Case number
- CP-38-CR-0001401-2020
5 counts · 5 convicted
CP-38-CR-0001401-2020
Sentence · Jun 2, 2021
Twenty-seven to seventy-two months on each of two registration counts; one year probation on each of two statement counts, and no further penalty on the remaining statement count. Concurrency is not stated.4
Distinct docket. Exact per-count sentences retained with concurrency unknown; no total calculated. The summary omits count three in the registration case, so no count-three label or disposition is invented.
Sources 4
Case narrative
Biography
Previous to his TCaP appearance, Coffen had been arrested in Harrisburg, PA on May 28, 2004 for driving with a suspended license. He pled guilty and received a fine.
In 2006 Thomas Coffen, a thirty-one-year-old man, started communication on the internet with a Perverted Justice decoy who was posing as a fourteen-year-old girl. When the decoy asked how old was the younger girl he dated, Thomas claimed she was fourteen. Eventually, the two set up a day to meet up.
Coffen's outfit upon arriving at the sting house.
Sting and Arrest
Thomas arrived at the sting house carrying multiple cans of alcohol. When he entered the house, the decoy told him to have a seat near the table. Chris Hansen entered and asked what Thomas was doing here. Thomas made up a lie on the spot, claiming he was looking for work "and stuff," specifically blacktop sealing. Chris then read from Thomas' conversation log, revealing that he preferred younger girls to older ones. Thomas asserted that he meant people between the ages of nineteen and twenty. Thomas alleged that a virus had corrupted and infected his computer, causing the photograph to be transmitted.
Chris could detect his deceptions. When asked if he brought condoms, Thomas pulled them out of his vest pocket, claiming it was there because he didn't want the condom to get crushed in his wallet or pants pockets. Coffen left once the cameras came out and he was arrested outside.
Due to the large number of predators showing up at very close times to one another, Coffen was placed in the backseat of the police car which also had Michael Wilusz in the backseat, although it is unknown if the two men ever interacted.
Aftermath
In October 2006, Thomas was found guilty of three felonies: Use of the Internet to Solicit/Attempt to Solicit etc. a Child for Sex/Lewdness, Sending a Minor Harmful Info, and Attempted Lewd or Lascivious Battery with a Victim 12-15 Years Old. On October 13, 2006, he was sentenced to twenty-nine months and three days in prison with one hundred and seventy-two days credited for time served, three years of probation, lifetime registration as a sex offender, and pay court costs. Thomas has deteriorated over time, being arrested for driving with a suspended license in 2016 and for marijuana possession in 2017.
Thomas later moved out of Florida to Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and is registered as a sex offender there. On March 2, 2019, Coffen was arrested in Lebanon on a litany of charges including failing to register as a sex offender, theft/receiving stolen property, and possession of drug paraphrenelia. While awaiting trial, he was arrested on September 5, 2020 for driving with a suspended license in nearby Derry Township. Eventually, for his Lebanon charges, he was sentenced in 2021 to between 27 months to 6 years in prison, with some credit for time served. As of July 2026, Thomas Coffen is incarcerated at SCI Coal Township in Pennsylvania.
Trivia
Thomas is one of two predators to wear a cowboy hat to the sting, the other being Vincent Ambrosio .
Community-written, from the To Catch a Predator Wiki. Not independently verified, and it does not establish charges or court outcomes.
Thomas Coffen, To Catch a Predator Wiki contributors; see revision and history links. · CC-BY-SA
Media
Sources
- 1Thomas William Coffen: Florida arrest and first appearanceFour rendered pages identify Thomas William Coffen, September 26, 1974 birth date and April 21, 2006 arrest. Case 06016086CF first appearance lists contact and computer-solicitation allegations; its plea and sentence fields are blank.
- 2Thomas W. Coffen: 2004 traffic docketDocket MJ-12105-TR-0003329-2004 identifies matching September 26, 1974 birth date. It records a May 28, 2004 suspended-driving offense, June 3 filing and August 18, 2008 guilty plea and penalty. Financial table separates a two-hundred-dollar motor-vehicle assessment from other costs.
- 3Thomas Coffen: 2020 traffic docketMatching birth date appears in docket MJ-12304-TR-0001185-2020, filed September 6, 2020 for suspended-driving conduct the day before. The July 2026 printed docket is inactive and awaiting plea, with disposition blank; summons cancellation is not dismissal.
- 4Thomas William Coffen: Lebanon County court summaryMatching birth date and full name link three distinct dockets. Summary records negotiated guilty pleas and February/June 2021 per-count sentences for drug possession/paraphernalia, theft/receiving property, and registration/false-statement charges. It does not state concurrency or a combined total.
- 555: Cowboy-pedophile, Thomas Coffen on MegaphonePublic episode metadata matches the publisher RSS recording by title, release date and exact enclosure identifier. Reviewed publisher title/description names this profile as the subject of the recording.
- 655: Cowboy-pedophile, Thomas Coffen on SpotifyPublic episode metadata matches the publisher RSS recording by title, release date and exact enclosure identifier. Reviewed publisher title/description names this profile as the subject of the recording.
- 7Thomas Coffen (community wiki)Attributed community article. Revision date describes the article update, not a court or sting event. Full infobox, narrative sections, references and assets are retained in the private archive.
- 8Thomas Coffen: legal outcome (revision 16135)29 months and three days in prison with 172 days credited, three years of probation, lifetime registration, and court costs.
- 9Thomas Coffen: archived criminal-history narrativeAftermath reports three original Florida convictions and the existing prison/probation term. It separately describes 2016 driving and 2017 marijuana arrests; no final dispositions for those two arrests are supplied.