An Air Force staff sergeant who believed he was meeting a 14-year-old girl for sex in June has pleaded guilty to child enticement.
Nicholas Darwin Yancey faces up to life in prison on the federal charge, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa, Florida.
Yancey, 30, was stationed at RAF Lakenheath, England, in February when he began posting ads on Craigslist looking for someone to exchange sexually explicit messages with, according to the criminal complaint. An agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, posing as a 14-year-old girl, replied to the ad.
Over the next several months, Yancey and the “girl” traded photos and messages, which soon turned from flirtatious to sexual, the court document said. Yancey asked the “girl” several times for nude photographs of herself, and they discussed a cover story so “she” could stay overnight with him at a hotel when Yancey returned to the U.S. He was to be stationed at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.
On June 23, Yancey wrote that he was back from overseas and ready to meet, according to the complaint. Meanwhile, Yancey had begun exchanging messages with the same OSI agent who was also posing as a 15-year-old girl. Yancey tried unsuccessfully to set up a meeting with the second “girl” for sex on June 29.
He got back in touch with the first “girl” and made plans to pick her up around 3:30 p.m. June 29 and take her to a hotel on MacDill Air Force Base, the court document said. Authorities arrested Yancey when he showed up at the meeting place.
A federal judge accepted Yancey’s guilty plea Oct. 2. A sentencing hearing has not yet been set.
