Carl Junction man sentenced to 12 years for sex with minor

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·1 min read

May 7—SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A federal judge sentenced a 31-year-old Carl Junction man Thursday to 12 years in prison for bringing an underage Kansas girl to Missouri to have sex with her.

At a sentencing hearing in federal court in Springfield, U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark ordered that Nathan R. Belcher serve the entirety of the term in a federal prison without parole and to serve 20 years of supervised release after completion of his incarceration.

Belcher pleaded guilty Oct. 2, 2019, to transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

A news release from the U.S. attorney's office in Springfield announcing the sentencing said he admitted in court having transported a girl with a birthdate in 2003 from Kansas to Missouri in 2017 and that they engaged in sexual activity at a residence and by a creek near Neosho.

The case was investigated by police in Columbus, Kansas; the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department; and the FBI.