Man tries to move Texas teen back to his Indiana home for ‘sexual activities,’ feds say
An Indiana man tried to move a move a teenager away from her Texas home for sexual purposes, federal officials say.
Now, he’ll serve a 10-year prison sentence.
Authorities said 26-year-old Ryan Steele, of Fort Wayne, traveled to Texas in March 2023 to locate a 16-year-old he had been talking to online, according to an April 25 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana.
Law enforcement located Steele traveling to Texas and upon his arrival in the state, discovered he was attempting to locate the girl, officials said.
After his arrest, he told authorities he traveled to Texas with the purpose of moving the teen back to his Indiana home to live and “engage in sexual activity,” according to officials.
Steele told authorities he knew the girl, who he had been talking to since she was 11, was a minor, prosecutors said.
Steele pleaded guilty to attempted transportation of a minor and was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release, officials said.
The Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and several local law enforcement agencies in Texas and Indiana were involved in the case, officials said.
This story was originally published April 26, 2024 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Man tries to move Texas teen back to his Indiana home for ‘sexual activities,’ feds say."
