NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

APRIL 23, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOUISIANA MAN SENTENCED TO 14 YEARS FOR TRANSPORTING 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL FOR ILLICIT SEX

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Violet, La., man has been sentenced in federal court for transporting a minor across state lines to engage in illegal sexual activity.

Neil Scott Kramer, 40, of Violet, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr on Thursday, April 22, 2010, to 14 years in federal prison without parole. Kramer pleaded guilty on Dec. 21, 2009.

Kramer admitted that he met a 15-year-old girl at the Bull’s Eye Convenience Store in Cabool, Mo., on Nov. 10, 2008, and took her to Louisiana, where they stayed in Kramer’s RV for several days.

Kramer and the minor victim had been communicating via text messages for about six months prior to their meeting in Cabool. After picking her up at the convenience store, Kramer drove her to the Comfort Inn in Willow Springs, Mo., where they spent the night and engaged in sexual intercourse. They drove to Louisiana the next day, and engaged in sexual intercourse while staying at Kramer’s RV.

Kramer took the victim to a bar in Poydras, La., on Nov. 14, 2008, and bought her three shots of alcohol, which she drank. A short time later, the victim sent a text message to her mother, claiming that she had been kidnapped. Her mother notified law enforcement authorities, who arrested Kramer in the bar’s parking lot.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Kelleher. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Texas County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the St. Bernard Parish, La., Sheriff’s Department.

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