A 56-year-old St. Louis man has admitted in federal court that he drove to Michigan to pick up a 12-year-old girl he met online, brought her back to Missouri and engaged in illegal sexual activity with her before sending her home on a bus ticket he purchased.
Harold Paul White pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in St. Louis to transporting the girl from Michigan to Missouri and engaging in illegal sexual activity after meeting her on social media. Prosecutors say White acknowledged driving to Michigan to pick up the child, recording sexual acts with her at his apartment and then buying her a bus ticket home after she was reported missing. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31, with both sides recommending a 15-year prison term.
What prosecutors say
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, White pleaded guilty to one count of interstate travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and admitted the facts in U.S. District Court.
Prosecutors say he met the child on social media, brought her to his St. Louis apartment, engaged in illegal sex acts there and recorded those acts on a phone. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianna Edwards is prosecuting the case.
Federal statute and penalties
The travel-with-intent offense is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 2423, which authorizes a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
Federal sentencing guidance and past cases show judges typically treat interstate travel and any related recordings of sexual material as aggravating factors when deciding how stiff the final sentence should be.
Earlier indictment and investigation
White was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2024 on one count of production of child pornography and one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri press release dated Nov. 27, 2024.
That earlier release notes the production charge carries a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison. It also states that the Detroit Police Department, the FBI and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case.
Sentencing and Project Safe Childhood
Sentencing is set for July 31, and the case remains part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative that coordinates federal, state and local resources to prosecute online child exploitation.
The judge will decide the final prison term after hearing arguments from prosecutors and defense counsel.
