ALLEGAN COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – A 45-year-old Warwick RI man, accused of befriending a 15-year-old Michigan girl online and executing a plan to run away with her, has been sentenced to prison.
That update came from a news release Tuesday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In 2019, Charles Morancey is said to have befriended a 15-year-old Hopkins, MI girl online. The conversations are said to have been sexual in nature, and he crafted a plan to pick her up from her home and take her back to Rhode Island.
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.
After arriving in Rhode Island, Morancey is said to have 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 charges of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and receipt of child pornography.
He will now face eleven years and two months in federal prison, as well as 20 years of federal supervised release.
