PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A Missouri man has pleaded guilty to charges that he took a 17-year-old girl with learning disabilities from Massachusetts to Rhode Island, where he sold her for sex.
Thirty-year-old Stephen Ardrey, Springfield, Mo., on Wednesday acknowledged he met the girl online and corresponded with her for months. In September, he met her at a library in Medfield, Mass., and they made their way to a motel in West Greenwich, R.I.
She was found in neighboring Coventry after someone saw them walking together.
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Ardrey has been in federal custody since.
He pleaded guilty to trafficking a minor and transporting a minor to engage in sex.
The charges carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and up to life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for May 15.
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