A Palm Coast man sentenced to prison this week for sexually assaulting a teen will spend five years in a state facility, followed by 10 years of sex offender probation, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said.
Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols handed down the sentence to 21-year-old Micah McGuire after he pleaded guilty October 28 to lewd or lascivious battery and promoting a sexual performance by a child.
Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested McGuire outside his Palm Coast home on May 29. According to the agency, that was the same day he began trying to arrange a ride to Orlando so he could fly to Colorado ahead of a planned move to Denver.
Detectives from the agency’s Cyber Crimes and Digital Forensics units worked the case. The agency has said McGuire tried to flee to Colorado before deputies caught up with him.
McGuire remains at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility. He is waiting for transfer to the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections.
Sheriff Rick Staly praised the detectives who made the arrest.
“This predator wanted a one-way ticket out of Florida before our detectives caught up with him. Instead, he got a one-way ticket to five years in a Florida prison and a decade of sex offender probation after that,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “I commend our Cyber Crimes and Digital Forensics detectives for stopping him in his tracks before he could skip town and making sure he answers for what he did to this victim.”
The Sheriff’s Office did not release further details about the victim, who is a minor.