Walkersville Child Predator Sentenced To Federal Prison For Child Enticement
Wednesday, November 13, 2024, 1:45 P.M. ET. 3 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
BALTIMORE, MD.- A 56-year-old Frederick County, Maryland, man has been sentenced to prison for enticing and coercing two young teen girls with ice cream, money, and vaping products to engage in sexual activity with him, enticing the second child while he was out on bail.
Today, Michael Vance Culpepper, 56, of Walkersville, Maryland, appeared in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard D. Bennett to 120 months in federal prison, to be followed by twenty-five years of supervised release for his previously entered guilty plea to Enticement and Coercion of a Minor to Engage in Sexual Conduct.
In handing down the sentence today, Judge Bennett also ordered that upon completion of his federal prison term, Culpepper must register as a sex offender in the national database.
According to U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron, during his plea allocation, Culpepper admitted in Federal Court that in April and May 2023, he used mobile phones and online social media applications to persuade, entice, and coerce two young victims whom he believed to be a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexually explicit conduct.
Culpepper Engaged With Undercover Investigator
During the first instance, an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a 13-year-old girl was contacted by Culpepper over the internet on his cellular phone to exchange sexually explicit messages and request sexually explicit digital images. During the online chats, Culpepper encouraged the 13-year-old girl to hide her conversation from her parents, writing to her, “You DEFINITELY need to delete these texts when we are done.” On May 8, 2023, Culpepper drove fifty miles to meet the child at a restaurant in Hanover, Maryland. When he arrived, instead of meeting the child, he was greeted by investigators and taken into custody.
Culpepper was released on May 9, 2023, with the condition that he would have no further contact with minors. Culpepper initiated an online chat with a 14-year-old girl. During that time, Culpepper utilized the internet to entice the girl to engage in sexually explicit conversations. Culpepper also sent the teen girl a sexually explicit image of himself and requested the girl send him a nude digital image of herself.
Culpepper arranged to meet the teen to engage in unlawful explicit sexual conduct. On May 28, 2024, Culpepper picked up the girl near her home and then drove around with her for about an hour before stopping at a park. Culpepper used ice cream, money, a hotel room, and vaping devices to entice the child to have sex with him. The child refused, but following the meeting, Culpepper continued to entice the child to meet him to engage in sex acts.
