3:59 PM
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Colby Williams (mug shot GCSO)


Another man from the Ozarks with ties to a Christian organization has been charged with sexually assaulting a teen aged girl on a mission trip overseas.
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But Colby Williams is familiar with crimes like this, he was a reporter for the Joplin Globe. His last byline was dated Saturday August 8, 2009.

The Turner Report has the federal documents related to this case on their blog.

Federal prosecutors say that Colby L. Williams, 24, of Joplin, had illicit sex with the 14 year-old on a mission trip to Cyprus in 2007 with Team Expansion of Louisville, KY.

After a complaint about the alleged incident was filed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children the missionary group immediately arranged for Williams to return to the United States.

Team Expansion was founded in 1978 as a prayer movement on the campus of what was then Kentucky Christian College.

According to their website over 320 missionaries have helped start 180 churches in over forty-five countries.

Williams, who was arrested at his residence today, had his initial court appearance this morning and will be released on bond after he surrenders his passport to the court.

UPDATE - 04-16-11:

Williams, now 25, entered a guilty plea in federal court in Springfield yesterday. 

According to court records, a security director for the missionary group went to Cyprus and seized Williams laptop and camera and turned them over to Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents.

When Williams was interviewed by an ICE agent and a Joplin Police Department detective on July 28, 2008, he admitted he had sex with the teenager. He also gave authorities permission to search the seized property.  Investigators found sexually explicit messages between Williams and the girl on Williams' computer.

As part of the plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors,Williams will be sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison - followed by five years of supervised parole. A sentencing hearing has not been set.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish people understood more about this before posting something that makes such a good character look so bad.

top-secret helicopter said...

anonymous is an idiot.

Anonymous said...

I whole-heartedly agree with anonymous.

Anonymous said...

Pray for repentance and change of heart. Fair punishment must be administrated.

Anonymous said...

In regards to Colby Williams...
I am disgusted that you would describe someone who would knowingly have sex with a fourteen-year-old girl as "such a good character". You're obviously the offender or family. I think there is a familial disdain for women. My question is what kind of sentence did this individual receive?

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