Neal Ray Schmidt, 59, of St. Louis Missouri, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison today, for soliciting sex with two underage Georgia girls. Schmidt, who is a former Grand Dragon for the Missouri chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, travelled from Missouri to McDonough, Georgia, after meeting who he believed to be two 14-year old girls in an online forum for kids, with the intention of having sex with the teens. The two “girls” were actually undercover police officers.
According to federal officials, in June 2010, Schmidt drove from his St. Louis home to a motel in McDonough, Georgia, to meet the girls (who, in the online forum, told Schmidt that they were friends and lived near each other in McDonough). Law enforcement officials arrested Schmidt upon his arrival at the motel, and confiscated several guns, Klan paraphernalia, and various sex toys he had in his possession.
“This case starkly illustrates how the Internet can expose our children not only to the predator down the street, but also to the would-be molester who lives hundreds of miles away. Thanks to the hard work of one of our local law enforcement partners, this particular offender will now be kept away from any other potential victims for many years to come,” commented United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.
Since his arrest, Schmidt has also been charged with molesting his granddaughter in Missouri, and with arranging a similar encounter with an underage girl in Florida.
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