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 this morning, 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 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.

After online chats and telephone calls, 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.

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

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