NC sex offender went to Fort Mill seeking child online. He’ll spend 31 years in prison
A North Carolina registered sex offender who traveled to Fort Mill in 2021 seeking a someone he thought was a child online will spend more than 31 years in prison after being caught in a police sting.
Federal judge Martin Reidinger in Asheville, N.C. sentenced Michael John Worley, 51, of Canton, N.C., Thursday to 382 months in prison, according to prosecutors and court records. There is no parole in the federal system.
Worley pleaded guilty last year to attempting to using a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography, according to federal court records and a statement from Dena King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
When Worley was arrested in Fort Mill in 2021, he had recently finished a five-year federal sentence from North Carolina for possession of child pornography after a 2016 arrest according to prosecutors, deputies, and court documents. He was on supervised release and had to register as a sex offender from that earlier conviction at the time of the Fort Mill arrest, prosecutors said.
“We are committed to actively investigating and prosecuting repeat predators like Worley to combat child exploitation and ensure the safety of our vulnerable young people,” King said.
Law enforcement from the York County Sheriff’s Office, FBI and Homeland Security were conducting an online investigation into internet child sex crimes when Worley was arrested in South Carolina, officials said in 2021 at a news conference in York County. Worley communicated with law enforcement posing as a teenage female child during the investigation, records show.
“Let this send a strong message to any child predator, if you hunt our children, you will become the hunted,” York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson said in a statement.
