A 29-year-old Grand Junction man will spend the next three decades in federal prison after jurors found he repeatedly took a 14-year-old Mississippi girl across state lines for sex, then brought her back to Tennessee. On Monday, a federal judge sentenced Terry Dewayne Macon to 30 years behind bars, followed by supervised release and a requirement that he register as a sex offender.
Chief U.S. District Judge Debra M. Brown imposed the 30-year term and ordered five years of supervised release to follow, according to WREG. The outlet identified Macon as a 29-year-old Grand Junction resident and reported that the federal sentence includes strict post-release monitoring.
How Prosecutors Say It Unfolded
Prosecutors told jurors that Macon met the teen online in July 2024, then spent the next month turning virtual contact into in-person trips. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Mississippi, Macon drove from Tennessee to Mississippi three separate times to pick up the 14-year-old, bring her back to Tennessee, and engage in sexual activity.
The press release states that members of the FBI’s Child Abduction Response Team tracked the minor to a residence in Grand Junction on Aug. 28, 2024, where they found her with Macon and safely returned her to her family. Jurors heard testimony from the teen, her mother and FBI task-force officers before finding Macon guilty on all counts in November 2025.
Sentence, Supervised Release, and Registration
After the guilty verdict, the court also dealt with Macon’s existing federal supervision. At a revocation hearing, Judge Brown revoked his federal supervised release and imposed a 24-month term for that violation, to run at the same time as the 30-year prison sentence, according to WREG.
The outlet reports that the court ordered steps to ensure Macon registers as a sex offender once he leaves prison and set additional post-custody supervision conditions. Those requirements will follow the five-year supervised release term that begins after his time in federal custody.
Federal Law Behind The Charge
The conviction falls under 18 U.S.C. § 2423, the federal statute that criminalizes transporting minors across state lines for sexual activity. The law allows for decades-long penalties depending on which subsection applies and the specific facts of the case.
Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute publishes the statute text and notes that transporting an individual under 18 with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity is a federal crime that can bring substantial prison time.
Investigation And Prosecution
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the FBI Jackson Field Office and the Corinth Police Department led the investigation, with help from FBI Nashville and other local partners, according to the office’s press release. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julie Addison and Parker King prosecuted the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a federal initiative that targets internet-facilitated abuse and cross-border movement of victims.
Local Reporting And Next Steps
Local reporting indicates the teen was returned to her home and is receiving support from family and authorities, according to the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. Court records and official press statements in the case remain public, and Macon may seek post-conviction remedies, but for now his 30-year sentence is set to be carried out in federal custody.
