JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A convicted sex offender has admitted that he had sex with a 13-year-old Alabama girl who was brought to Missouri by the man’s grandmother and mother.
Twenty-one-year-old Michael James Collins, of Fulton, pleaded guilty Monday to transporting a minor across state lines to engage in sexual activity. He also pleaded guilty to committing the offense while he was registered as a sex offender.
Federal prosecutors say Collins paid his grandmother $400 to drive to Alabama and pick up the girl, who he met on a website in 2017. Collins’ mother went along and the women brought the girl back to Missouri.
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The Callaway County, Missouri, sheriff’s office found the girl in December 2017 after a cell phone ping placed her at a home in Fulton.
Collins was on probation at the time for a prior conviction involving a child.
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