A Louisiana man who arranged to meet a 15-year-old girl at a Cabool convenience store last year pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to transporting a minor across state lines to engage in illegal sexual activity.
Neil Scott Kramer, 40, of Violet, La., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr to the charge contained in an April 2 federal indictment. The announcement came from Matt J. Whitworth, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
According to authorities, Kramer and the minor victim had been communicating via text messages for about six months prior to meeting Nov. 10, 2008, at Bull’s Eye in Cabool. Kramer drove her to the Comfort Inn in Willow Springs, 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.
Four days after meeting Kramer, authorities said the girl sent a text message to her mother while at a bar in Poydras, La. She claimed she had been kidnapped. The girl’s mother notified law enforcement authorities and Kramer, who had purchased the girl three shots of alcohol, was arrested in the bar’s parking lot.
Under federal statutes, Kramer is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Texas County Sheriff’s Department and the St. Bernard Parish, La., Sheriff’s Department.