From staff reports
JOPLIN, Mo. —
A Baxter Springs, Kan., man was sentenced in federal court today to 10 years in prison without the possibility of parole for attempting to entice a Joplin minor to engage in illegal sexual activity in Leonard Park.
Ronald J. Byler, 24, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr, according to David Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
According to court documents, the mother of a 13-year-old Joplin girl was checking her child’s cell phone messages in August 2012 and found text messages of a sexual nature from Byler, who also had asked the girl to send him nude images of herself.
The girl met Byler earlier in the summer while she was performing community service at the Joplin Disabled Americans Veterans Thrift store, where he was employed.
