By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
A Joplin man was charged Thursday in federal court with having illicit sex with a minor while traveling with an American missionary group in Cyprus two years ago.
A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Springfield charges Colby L. Williams, 24, who worked this summer as an intern at the Globe, with having sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl while in the Mediterranean country of Cyprus in 2007 with the missionary group Team Expansion of Louisville, Ky.
The U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Missouri said in a news release that Williams was arrested Thursday morning at his home and made an initial appearance in federal court in Springfield. The news release stated that Williams would be released on bond once he surrenders his passport.
An affidavit filed with the complaint states that a special agent with both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and assigned to an office in St. Louis, initiated an investigation of Williams in July 2007 as the consequence of a complaint filed with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The affidavit states that the missionary group arranged for Williams to return to the United States when the complaint was first brought to the organization’s attention. The security director for the group traveled to Cyprus and took possession of various personal items belonging to Williams, including a laptop computer and digital camera, and turned those items over to ICE agents, according to the affidavit.
The special agent and a Joplin Police Department detective interviewed Williams on July 28, 2008, at his home, and he admitted to sexual acts with the girl, the affidavit alleges. He also signed a form granting consent to search his laptop computer and other electronic items that were turned over to ICE agents, according to the document. The affidavit alleges that a forensic examination of the computer revealed texts of explicit conversation between Williams and the girl.
The girl was interviewed a year ago at a child-advocacy center in Tyler, Texas, and allegedly detailed various sexual encounters with Williams in Cyprus. The complaint and affidavit do not state whether the girl is a citizen of the United States, Cyprus or some other country. Don Ledford, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, said her citizenship is not relevant to the federal law under which Williams has been charged.
Williams worked as an intern at the Globe for four weeks this summer and performed some freelance videography for the newspaper after the internship.
