OSWEGO, N.Y. -- Mayor John Gosek was conditionally released from custody Saturday after appearing in federal court to face a charge that he used a telephone to solicit sex from a minor, federal prosecutors said.

Gosek, 58, was arrested and jailed Friday night. On Saturday, U.S. Magistrate George Lowe released him with an electronic monitor and scheduled a detention hearing Monday. He is confined to his house.

According to court papers, Gosek was arrested after paying a confidential informant $250 to introduce him to two 15-year-old girls at a hotel.

The federal charge carries a sentence of five to 30 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

"I want to make it clear the charges do not allege he had sexual relations with a minor," defense attorney James Eby said. "It charges he talked on a telephone about having sexual relations. He adamantly denies ever having sexual relations with a minor."

State police began an investigation of Gosek nearly two years ago, recording conversations of Gosek offering money or drugs in exchange for sex, court documents said. The FBI joined the investigation in April and put a wiretap on Gosek's city-owned cell phone.

"It's not just talk. There's a pattern of him using the cell phone and attempting to entice women," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Katko said. "Sometimes the women are adults, sometimes they're not."

Gosek, a Republican, is in his second term as mayor of Oswego, a city of about 17,900 along Lake Ontario, 34 miles north of Syracuse.

___

Information from: The Post-Standard, http://www.syracuse.com

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