By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
A former Marine Corps staff sergeant from Waynesville was assessed three prison sentences Friday related to his arrest a year ago in a Jasper County Sheriff’s Department sting operation targeting child-sexual predators on the Internet.
Circuit Judge David Mouton sentenced Norman K. Klinger, 38, to seven years in prison for attempted child molestation and three years on each of two counts of sexual misconduct with a child under the age of 15.
The judge ordered the seven-year sentence to run consecutive to the two shorter sentences, which are to run concurrently under the terms of a plea agreement the defendant reached with the Jasper County prosecutor’s office in February. The sentence was the maximum prison time Klinger stood to receive under the plea agreement.
Klinger’s attorney, Ken Clayton, asked the judge to consider granting his client probation since he had no prior criminal record and had served honorably in the Marine Corps for 18 years. The defendant was discharged from the corps following his arrest in June of last year at Fort Leonard Wood.
Klinger engaged in weeks of online correspondence with Jasper County sheriff’s Detective Ed Bailey, who was posing as a 13-year-old girl named “Candy.” During that correspondence, the defendant engaged in several chats of a sexual nature, sent “Candy” photos of his exposed body and other sexually explicit photos, and instructed “Candy” on how to access adult porn Web sites.
He also arranged to meet “Candy” at motels in Carthage, but never showed up, according to a probable-cause affidavit signed by Bailey.
“I disgraced myself, my family and the military, and I’m very ashamed of doing it,” Klinger said at the hearing.
He said that since his arrest, he has been living in Virginia with his father and receiving counseling from a priest.
Clayton argued that his client has been making court appearances regularly since his arrest, could be counted on to follow whatever restrictions the court might place on his probation, and was at relatively low risk to re-offend. He also argued that Klinger’s crime had no actual child victim.
Assistant Prosecutor John Nicholas said the prosecutor’s office felt prison sentences were in order. He said that while the defendant’s chats with Bailey involved a fictitious underage girl, Klinger had acknowledged during the course of the investigation having similar chats of a sexual nature with two actual girls who were 14.
The affidavit signed by Bailey also states that Klinger boasted to “Candy” about how he’d had oral sex with the 15-year-old daughter of a 35-year-old female friend.
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