KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A 56-year-old northwest Missouri man has been sentenced to nearly 21 years in federal prison for transporting a minor across state lines for prostitution.
U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson says Tony Eugene Wardlow of St. Joseph was sentenced in federal court on Wednesday after being found guilty in December.
The commercial truck driver and registered sex offender also pleaded guilty in February 2014 to a charge of interstate transportation for prostitution.
Prosecutors say Wardlow paid the minor victim for sex numerous times while she worked as a prostitute in Kansas City. He also took her out of town in his truck on several occasions, including a trip to Texas in September 2011.
Wardlow became a registered offender after being convicted in 1997 in Nodaway County of several sex crimes involving minors.