Utah man gets time for luring teenager
By Nick Hiltunen
Published in News on September 6, 2009 2:00 AM
A former U.S. Air Force military police officer once based at Camp McGregor, N.M., has been convicted of using the Internet to lure a 14-year-old Goldsboro girl into a sexual encounter.
Utah native William Konrad Schmitt, 24, and William Edward Arthur, 18, of Darby Road, Goldsboro, were allegedly found at Berkeley Park in a car with the girl, police said.
Schmitt entered a guilty plea of attempted indecent liberties with a child and solicitation of a child by computer, according to court records.
For the offenses, he will serve a minimum of 16 months in a Department of Corrections facility, according to court records.
Schmitt will also be required to register as a sex offender within 10 days of his release, and the Department of Corrections will contact Utah authorities to notify them that Schmitt has been released from prison, records indicate.
Investigation into Schmitt began on Dec. 26, when Goldsboro Officer Mike Green found the two men in a vehicle with the 14-year-old, police said.
The Air Force's Office of Special Investigations soon became involved with the case, and Schmitt was jailed under a $75,000 bond after his arrest.
The lead investigator in the case said Schmitt had been based at a number of bases in the recent past, including Camp McGregor, near Fort Bliss.
Arthur, who was a schoolmate friend of the 14-year-old, told investigators he did not know "it was going to go to the extent that it went," the lead investigator in the case said.
Arthur was charged with one count, contributing to the abuse of a child, and was originally jailed under a $10,000 bond, according to police.
Arthur, then 17, pleaded guilty to the charge not long after his arrest, the lead investigator in the case said.
"He was eager to get it over with," the investigator said.