A Texas man has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to transporting a 14-year-old girl from Mount Judea across state lines for sex, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Elser said.
In addition to being sentenced to 188 months Thursday, Thomas Hammond, 47, of Cleburne, Texas, was also sentenced to 10 years of supervised release before Chief Judge P.K. Holmes III in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith.
Hammond began an online relationship with the teenager in the spring of 2015, and in April of that year traveled from his home to Harrison, where he rented a hotel room for several days and had sex with the girl, according to a statement.
Elser said that a month later, Hammond again traveled from his residence to the teenager’s home about 30 miles south of Harrison in Mount Judea, picked her up and took her back to Texas.
Hammond was stopped May 17, 2015, by a Newton County sheriff's deputy, who found the girl traveling with him. That girl then told authorities she that had been transported between Arkansas and Texas on several occasions for the purpose of sex.
According to the statement, Hammond was indicted Dec. 9, 2015, by a federal grand jury and pleaded guilty May 11 to a charge of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.