A 31-year-old Navy lieutenant was sentenced to a decade in federal prison for attempting to solicit a child for sex over the Internet, the Department of Justice announced on Monday.
- Michael Douglas McNeil, assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Lassen, was arrested last year after contacting a detective posing as a family member of a 12-year-old handicapped child and requesting sex with the fictional minor.
- McNeil spent several days discussing plans for a sexual rendezvous, sending explicit photos of himself and “ask specific questions about the “child’s” sexual experience and abilities,” according to the DoJ release on his sentencing.
- McNeil was arrested when he went to met the fictional minor at a coffee shop, according to the DoJ, blaming the solicitation on his “curiosity” about “a younger girl.”
- The Naval Criminal Investigative Service assisted state and federal law enforcement with the investigation.