A Kentucky man who drove to Cranberry Township to have sex with a person he met on the Internet and believed to be a 13-year-old girl will spend up to 8 years in prison.

In court Thursday, 47-year-old Thomas Vascotto sobbed as he described how his arrest harmed his job, reputation, wife and two sons, ages 7 and 4.

Vascotto told Butler County Judge William Shaffer, who was about to sentence the defendant, that he was "truly sorry"and "humbled beyond belief."

But Deputy Attorney General Kristine DeMarco said Vascotto's remorse was a different emotion than what he'd expressed to court officials who recently prepared a pre-sentence report.

Vascotto, according to DeMarco, then deflected responsibility and said he was "railroaded."

Vascotto was arrested as part of an ongoing undercover sting by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Child Predator Unit.

Like the operation featured on Dateline NBC's popular "To Catch a Predator" segment. court records say Vascotto communicated over the Internet with someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl.

Vascotto talked to "the girl," who actually was an agent, numerous times and sometimes sent her images of pornography that included children or images he portrayed as himself.

Eventually, the online chats led into telephone conversations with a female undercover agent. Over a period of months, Vascotto said he was a horse breeder and urged the girl to visit him in Kentucky or attend the University of Kentucky after she graduated high school.

Court documents say the conversations were riddled with sexual propositions.

On Aug. 1, 2007, Vascotto sent the girl an e-mail saying he was planning to travel to Michigan to visit his mother and then on to Pennsylvania to meet the girl.

Vascotto was arrested Aug. 4 at the Cranberry location that he had agreed to meet the girl.

In February, Vascotto pleaded guilty to multiple crimes, including unlawful contact with a minor and dissemination or possession of child pornography.

On Wednesday, his defense attorney Michael Deriso of Pittsburgh argued the shame and loss to Vascotto's family should be counted as punishment already.

The defense submitted to the judge about a dozen letters written by friends and family on the defendant's behalf. Vascotto's wife reportedly was among people in the courtroom supporting him, but she did not speak.

And, Deriso argued the judge should weigh the fact that "there was no victim in this crime. There was an agent posing as a minor."

On that issue, however, the judge sided with Demarco, who argued the agent well could have been a real girl.

And, Demarco said, the pornography Vascotto distributed was of "children, the most precious of our community."

After Vascotto spends 4 to 8 years in a Pennsylvania state prison, he will serve another 5 years of probation.

This state's Sexual Offender Assessment Board already evaluated Vascotto and determined that he is not a sexually violent predator. Still, because of the charges involved, the defendant will be required to register his address with police for the rest of his life.