PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A 45-year-old Warwick man who befriended online a 15-year-old Michigan girl and executed a plan to run away with her was sentenced in federal court in Providence, RI, today to more than eleven years in federal prison and twenty years of federal supervised release for transporting the girl from her hometown to Rhode Island with the intent of repeatedly engaging in illicit sex and for having her send him sexually explicit images of herself.
According to court documents, in mid-July 2019, Charles Morancey befriended the Hopkins, MI, 15-year-old who expressed to him that she was experiencing difficulties at home. During online conversations that Morancey often turned sexually explicit and graphic, he helped the 15-year-old create a plan to run away from home with him and to prevent her parents from locating or contacting her or from accessing her social media accounts. He advised her to remove and destroy her cell phone sim card and to change passwords or delete her social media accounts. The girl chose not to follow all of Morancey’s instructions.
On August 2, 2019, the 15-year-old left her home without her parent’s knowledge and met Morancey at a nearby location. Morancey drove the girl to his Warwick residence, stopping in an Indiana rest area during the two-day drive to engage in sexual contact. Upon arriving in Rhode Island, Morancey engaged in sexual activity with the minor girl on multiple occasions.
On August 6, 2019, the Allegan County Sherriff’s Department obtained an emergency search warrant for the missing teen’s Instagram account, and determined that the girl had logged on to her account from an IP address in Rhode Island. The investigation determined that the IP address belonged to Morancey. Warwick Police were notified and responded to Morancey’s residence where they located the missing girl. Later that afternoon, Morancey was located in Warwick driving his vehicle and was arrested.
Charles Morancey pled guilty on November 18, 2019, to a two-count information charging him with travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and receipt of child pornography.
Today’s sentencing of Morancey by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith to 135 months in federal prison to be followed by twenty years of federal supervised release, and an assessment in the amount of $5,000 pursuant to the Justice for Victims Trafficking Act, is announced by Acting United States Attorney Richard B. Myrus.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lee H. Vilker.