For Immediate Release

Grand Rapids, Michigan – March 1, 2006 – United States Attorney Margaret M. Chiara announced that on Februrary 28, 2006, Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell sentenced Jamie Lee Channer to a term of 120 months (10 years) in prison. Channer, age 28, recently of Comstock Park, Michigan, pleaded guilty in November, 2005, to interstate transportion of an individual under the age of 18 with the intent of engaging that individual in criminal sexual activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section § 2423(a). The minor became the subject of an Amber Alert after Channer transported her on June 5, 2005, from Comstock Park, through Illinois and into Arkansas. Channer was eventually caught with the minor five days later at a truck stop in Arkansas.

United States Attorney Chiara commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Kent County Sheriff’s Department for their work in coordinating the investigation of this matter. The case was prosecuted on behalf of the United States of America by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Byerly Birge.