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Net Sex Offender Given 2 Years to Life

Posted on: Saturday, 11 March 2006, 15:00 CST

By Tracy Harmon, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

Mar. 11--CANON CITY - A 59-year old Utah man who thought he was traveling to Colorado to have sex with an 8-year old girl was handed a 2 years-to-life prison sentence Thursday in Fremont County District Court.

Judge Julie Marshall handed the sentence to Larry Merrill who will serve at least two years in prison. The case came to court as part of the Canon City Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force program where undercover police officers take on a fictitious identity of young girls or mothers of young girls and arrange to meet with sexual predators.

In Merrill's case, he contacted through the Internet who he though was the girl's mother and arranged to pay the mother $2,000 in return for the chance to have sex with the young girl. When Merrill arrived at the arranged meeting place in Canon City, he was arrested.

Marshall called the facts of the case "shocking" and said Merrill poses a risk to the community. She sentenced him to 2 years to life in prison despite a probation recommendation.

If Merrill is released from prison, he will be required to register as a sex offender.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

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Source: The Pueblo Chieftain

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