Camp Lejeune Marine gets 4 1/2 years in prison for soliciting child by computer for sex

A 24 year old Marine from Camp Lejeune is sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison after a military judge sentenced him Tuesday for traveling from Camp Lejeune to Pender County to engage in sexual activity with a 14 year old girl.

Base officials say John Ryan Leone, from Ruffin, South Carolina, was arrested in June by Pender County Sheriff’s Detectives and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)and charged with “Solicitation of Child by Computer to Commit Unlawful Sex Act”. 

A three month investigation revealed that Leone befriended a, middle school aged, Pender County girl and eventually traveled to Pender County for the purpose of having sex with her. The girl was actually a Pender County Sheriff’s Office Detective and a member of the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce.
Leone pled guilty to 5 counts of Attempt to communicate indecent language to a child under 16 years of age and one count of Solicit a child by computer to commit unlawful sex act yesterday.

Besides the prison sentence, Leone was reduced to the rank of E-1, will totally forfeiture all pay and allowances and will receive a bad conduct discharge.  He’ll also be required to register as a sex offender.