JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former Mayo Clinic therapist was sentenced to over 11 years in federal prison on Friday for attempting to meet up with an 8-year-old girl, the Department of Justice said in a press release.

Chief United States District Judge Marcia Morales Howard sentenced 34-year-old Chad Sadlowski to 11 years and three months in prison for “attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity,” the release states. He also ordered Sadlowski to serve a 10-year term of supervised release and register as a sex offender.

Sadlowski was a respiratory therapist at Mayo Clinic at the time of his arrest, which happened on April 28, 2024 in Jacksonville, his arrest report states.

From April 25 through April 28, 2024, an undercover detective with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office posed as the uncle of the girl, according to the release. Sadlowski engaged the detective “in a variety of sexually explicit messages and expressed a desire to have sex with the ‘child,'” the release states; Sadlowski’s arrest report notes he was talking to the detective via the website/app Whisper.

The DOJ said Sadlowski agreed to meet up at a local gas station to engage in sex with the girl prior to him going to work. His arrest report also mentions he passed the location more than once before stopping.

“Sadlowski was arrested as he was traveling to the gas station and was in his hospital scrubs when he was taken into custody,” the release says. “After his arrest, Sadlowski admitted to traveling to meet the eight-year-old ‘child’ for sex. In addition, he also admitted to talking to minors on the application by asking them for sexually explicit photos and videos.”

After obtaining a search warrant, investigators searched Sadlowski’s phone and found “additional child exploitation materials in his possession,” according to the DOJ.

“This investigation highlights the ever-present threat for children online, and this predator’s reprehensible actions demonstrate a coldhearted disregard for the life and well-being of a child,” said Tim Hemker, Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge. “HSI, alongside our partners with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the rest of Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force are committed to protecting our children from harm.”

Mayo Clinic told First Coast News in a statement shortly after Sadlowski’s arrest that his charges “are not related to his role at Mayo.”