A 40-year-old New London man with a history of sexual crimes against children was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court to 16.5 years in prison and supervised release for life for enticing a 13-year-old girl from New Jersey to travel to Connecticut and engage in illegal sexual activity.

Bryan White had communicated with the girl via a video chat service called "Chat Bazaar," and she repeatedly told him her age, according to court documents and testimony. He texted her that "age is just a number to deny u things" and that he is a "child lover."

The girl's father discovered the texts and contacted local police. An officer assumed the girl's identity and continued to communicate with White, who repeatedly asked "her" to come to New London and described the sexual acts they would perform.

White was expecting the girl to arrive at the New London bus station on July 5, 2016, and told her he would be wearing a yellow shirt that said Michigan and would have condoms and pina colada wine coolers, according to court documents. Instead, he was greeted by law enforcement officers and taken into custody. At the time of his arrest, he was wearing a yellow shirt and in possession of a condom and two bottles of alcohol, according to authorities.

White had been convicted in 2004 in state Superior Court of risk of injury to a minor based on his conduct in approaching two children who were walking to their aunt's house in Waterbury and asking them if he could see one of them naked. A few months later, during his participation in a sex offender evaluation, White disclosed that he sexually assaulted a 9-year-old boy on multiple occasions over a four-month period. He was convicted of first-degree sexual assault and received a sentence of 12 years in prison.

White was released from prison in November 2015 and resided at an inpatient sex offender treatment facility until December 2016. He then was transferred to a residential program and, while under court supervision, began communicating with the minor victim.

White has been detained since his arrest on July 5, 2016. On Feb. 22, 2017, he pleaded guilty to one count of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Burlington County (N.J.) Prosecutor's Office, the Florence (N.J.) Township Police Department, the New London Police Department and the Connecticut State Police. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy V. Gifford.