Eldon man gets 15-year sentence for sex acts with child
JEFFERSON CITY - An Eldon man was sentenced in federal court Tuesday engaging in illicit sex acts with a child over a two-year period.
According to a statement from prosecutors, 37-year-old James Anthony Guthrie, III, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison without parole.
Guthrie pleaded guilty in 2018 to one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor. He admitted to traveling to North Carolina five times and, while there, meeting the then-15-year-old victim at hotels for sex.
Guthrie admitted he picked up the child from school or at her house; one time, the victim’s father brought her to the hotel, investigators said.
Court documents said Guthrie met the victim online when she was 14. He engaged in sexual communications with her and even sent her gifts. Guthrie manipulated the victim and exploited the fact that others had abused her, court records said.