A prior sex offender in Fulton was sentenced in federal court Monday after his mother and grandmother transported a 13-year-old victim from Alabama to engage in illegal sexual activity with him.
Michael James Collins, 22, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison without parole.
The court also sentenced Collins to 25 years of supervised release following incarceration, according to a news release from the office of Timothy Garrison, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Collins pleaded guilty Nov. 26, 2018, to transporting a minor under age 14 across state lines with the intent to engage in illegal sexual activity and to committing the felony offense while he was under the requirement to register as a sex offender. Collins, who was a resident at the Community Supervision Center in Fulton, was on probation at the time of the offense for a prior felony conviction for sexual misconduct involving a child.
The Callaway County Sheriff's Department received information Dec. 10, 2017, that a 13-year-old girl from Alabama was missing from her home. A cellphone ping placed the victim at a residence in Fulton, where she was located and removed.
Collins admitted he paid his grandmother $400 to go to Alabama to pick up the child victim, whom he met on a dating website in July 2017. Collins' mother was with his grandmother when the victim was picked up in Alabama and transported to Missouri. Collins' grandmother and mother also transported the victim between the Fulton residence and Collins' residence at the Community Supervision Center when they were taking Collins back and forth to work. Collins admitted to engaging in sexual activity with the victim while being transported by his grandmother and mother in their minivan to his place of employment.
Collins and the child victim communicated with each other from July to December 2017 via cellphone, Facebook Messenger and other apps, which was a violation of Collins' probation. Collins accessed the internet using his cellphone as well as his mother's cellphone. Collins and the victim talked about having sex, had telephone sex and engaged in "sexting." Collins' mother and the victim also communicated regularly using Facebook Messenger.