A former Focus on the Family radio-ministry employee has been sentenced to five years of intensive probation for attempting to lure an underage teen into having sex with him.

Juan Alberto Ovalle, 42, part of the Spanish-speaking arm of the Colorado Springs Christian group, was fired after he was arrested by the Jefferson County district attorney’s office. Ovalle had narrated Christian CDs for the organization.

In early April, Ovalle made sexually graphic statements in an Internet chat room to a person he believed was an underage teen but was actually an undercover DA investigator.

Ovalle told the “teen” about the “sexual things that he wanted to do with her,” said prosecutors.

After the conversations, investigators said Ovalle drove from Colorado Springs to Lakewood on April 3 to meet the teen to have sex with her. Instead, he was arrested.

According to the Focus on the Family website, Ovalle founded Spanish Christian Audio in 2001 to help Christian organizations with their audio needs.

Ovalle pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault of a child on July 6. The sentencing judge recommended that his probation supervision be transferred to El Paso County.

He must register as a sex offender.

Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com