COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A Texas man will spend the next 25 to 30 years in prison after he traveled from Texas to Ohio and had a sexual encounter with a teen before attempting to fly to Florida with the girl.
According to the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, a man from North Detroit, Texas, was arrested in February 2025 at John Glenn International Airport while attempting to take a 15-year-old girl to Florida.
Court documents state that Harrison Barton, 38, met the victim online about one month prior to his arrest while playing Call of Duty on a mobile device. Barton then took a Greyhound bus from Texas to Ohio to meet the victim.
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The teenager reportedly picked up Barton in Newcomerstown, Ohio, north of Cambridge, in Tuscarawas County. Barton told investigators that prior to arriving at the airport, he and the victim had a sexual encounter and that he took sexually explicit images of her.
At the time of his arrest, Barton was also wanted on an outstanding parole warrant out of Texas, stemming from an online solicitation of a minor conviction, in which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
His sentence out of Ohio was a result of a plea agreement, which included a recommended sentence of at least 25 years in prison.
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