Macon – A Milledgeville man was sentenced to seven years, five of them in prison, on Monday after he pleaded guilty to going to a local motel to meet an underage girl and her mother for sex in March 2015.
Christopher Starling, 40, pleaded guilty to criminal attempt to commit child molestation and was sentenced in a Bibb County Superior Court hearing. Starling was sentenced as a first offender. Once released from prison, he must abide by sex offender terms of probation.
If the case had gone to trial, prosecutor Dorothy Hull would have presented evidence showing:
Starling responded to an online advertisement offering “tag team action” with a 15-year-old girl and her mother.
Not knowing he was actually corresponding with an undercover police officer, Starling arranged to meet who he thought was the mother and daughter at a local motel.
After his arrest at the motel, Starling told authorities he was addicted to sex and that he was on drugs.
During Monday’s plea hearing, Starling’s lawyer said her client’s drug addiction led him to make poor choices. She said his intent in going to the motel was to get drugs.
Speaking after the hearing, Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney David Cooke said, “Mr. Starling is not going to prison for his drug or sex addiction. He’s going to prison because he tried to have sex with a child.”
For more news from the District Attorney’s Office, follow on Twitter @DA_DavidCooke and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DADavidCooke.
Contact: Amy Leigh Womack
478-621-6179 (office)
478-319-2529 (cell)
