KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Trumbull County man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for traveling to Missouri to have sex with a 12-year-old child, that turned out to be an undercover agent.

Timothy M. Zukoski, 34, of Southington, Ohio, was charged in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo.

According to an affidavit, Zukoski began communicating through Instagram on Oct. 21, 2020, with a person he believed to be 12 years old. Unknown to Zukoski, the Instagram account had been set up by a Kansas City area woman for her daughter.

The woman told the FBI that she exchanged messages with Zukoski under the identity of her daughter.

An FBI undercover employee then began communicating with Zukoski through the Instagram account, assuming the identity of the 12-year-old girl.

Zukoski began planning to travel to the Kansas City area so that he could meet the child victim for sex, according to investigators.

Zukoski allegedly made plans with the FBI undercover employee to stay in Kansas City while the child victim's mother was purportedly out of town over Thanksgiving weekend. Zukoski also suggested, the affidavit says, that the child victim could come live with him.

When Zukoski arrived in Kansas City on Nov. 27, he was arrested. Investigators say they found child pornography on Zukoski’s cell phone.

The indictment charges Zukoski with one count of attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity, one count of traveling across state lines to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and one count of possessing child pornography.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.