A man Platte County prosecutor Eric Zahnd said was deliberate and detailed in plans to sexually assault a 13-year-old girl received a 10-year prison sentence last week.
Found guilty in December of 2014 for attempted enticement of a child and attempted statutory sodomy, Christopher Craig of Kansas City, Mo. remains free on a $100,000 cash bond while the verdict remains under appeal. Prosecutors suggested an increase in that amount after conviction, but the court denied that request.
According to court documents, Craig, 36, showed up to a Platte County hotel in 2013 with a plan to rape a 13-year-old girl on the verge of unconsciousness.
“In all my years as a prosecutor, I have seen very few cases where a defendant’s plan to sexually abuse a child was so deliberate, so detailed, and so disgusting,” Zahnd said. “I believe this man is dangerous, and the public should be aware as long as he remains at large.”
In April 2013, a Platte County Sheriff’s Office deputy conducted an undercover sting operation on a website pedophiles are known to frequent. The officer posed as the mother of a 13-year-old girl.
Craig contacted the purported mother, and after some discussion, he sent a text message offering to give the child “the full lesson on how to please a man properly and would involve all three orifices.”Over the next few months, Craig continued to correspond with the purported mother.
After more texts, Craig arranged to meet the child at a hotel in Kansas City.
While planning his liaison with the child, Craig emailed the mother a 15-point plan detailing the ways he would rape, sodomize and abuse the child. The plan graphically described various sex acts that Craig intended to inflict upon the child, including sadomasochistic abuse.
Among other things, the plan stated, “if [the child] has not passed out and she is feeling brave we will move on to [another sexual act].”
On July 22, 2013, Craig traveled to the hotel in Platte County with condoms, personal lubricant and latex gloves, intending to meet the 13-year-old for sex. Deputies arrested him at the scene.
Craig admitted to investigators that he would have had sex with the child if she would have been willing.
“Thank goodness this case did not involve an actual child, but the defendant made it very clear he would have completed the acts if given the opportunity,” Zahnd said. “Those who would rape and abuse children deserve long prison sentences, and we did all that we could to send this defendant to prison for as long as possible.”
At sentencing, Craig’s friends and family, including his wife Audrey Craig, and father, Charles R. Craig, Jr., filed letters on his behalf pleading for leniency. Prosecutors argued for consecutive 12-year sentences, for a total of 24 years.
The court imposed concurrent sentences of 10 years on each count.