Missouri man faces sentencing in teen sex case

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Defense lawyers are seeking a 10-year prison sentence for a Missouri man who pleaded guilty to taking a teen from Massachusetts to a motel in Rhode Island to sell her for sex.

Stephen Ardrey, 30, of Springfield, Missouri, faces sentencing in U.S. District Court Tuesday on charges of trafficking a minor and transporting a minor to engage in sex.

Ardrey has acknowledged he met the 17-year-old girl online and took her from a library in Medfield, Mass., to a motel in West Greenwich, R.I. in September. She was found in neighboring Coventry after someone saw them walking together.

Ardrey’s lawyers argue in court documents that he deserves the minimum possible sentence, in part because he witnessed his girlfriend’s suicide when he was 16 and suffers from a mental illness.

This story was originally published July 15, 2014 at 7:26 AM with the headline "Missouri man faces sentencing in teen sex case."