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Facebook meeting brings Missouri man to Michigan for sex with teenage girl

Nicholas Erickson, 40, traveled from Missouri to Michigan to have sex with the girl, whom he met on Facebook while pretending to be a 16-year-old.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Missouri man has been charged with traveling to western Michigan to have sex with a 15-year-old girl, going so far as to set an October, 2022 wedding date with the Howard City teen.

Nicholas M. Erickson is facing up to life in prison if convicted of numerous charges, including enticement of a minor.

Erickson, 40, is accused of having sex with the girl at a Montcalm County motel. He also took sexually explicit photos of the girl and “told her he had urges to touch children and she satisfied those urges,’’ court records show. 

Efforts are underway to bring the Springfield, Mo. man to Grand Rapids for a federal court appearance. He's locked up in Missouri.

Erickson came on police radar back in April as part of an investigation into child pornography. 

A search of his Springfield home turned up child pornography and a series of chat/text messages with the 15-year-old Michigan girl, federal court records show.

Police found a handwritten wedding invitation for Erickson and the girl set for Oct. 22, 2022, federal court records show.

Erickson admitted to traveling to Howard City to meet the teen. The two exchanged sexually explicit images and videos and engaged in sexual conversations, court records show.

His cell phone contained numerous sexually-explicit images of the girl, which were taken at a motel in Howard City. Police found on Erickson’s phone a calendar entry on March 22, 2019 which stated: “Sex with underage girl,’’ according to federal court records.

Michigan State Police located the girl, who said she met Erickson on Facebook. He originally stated that he was 16 years old. Erickson eventually disclosed his actual age, court records indicate.

Erickson traveled to Michigan at the close of 2018 and “the two engaged in sexual contact’’ in Erickson’s motel room, court records show. He returned to Howard City in March of 2019, where he and the girl “had sex four times and engaged in other sexual contact.’’

The victim’s mother contacted police in May to say Erickson was sending the girl messages from a new phone number, asking that she delete the messages between the two of them.

Erickson has prior convictions in Greene County, Mo. for passing a bad check and felony identity theft, court records show.

The indictment, filed in Grand Rapids, was unsealed on Friday. A federal magistrate in Missouri ordered that Erickson be transported to Michigan for further proceedings.

Erickson is charged with enticement of a minor, sexual exploitation of a child and interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct. 

The date of the offenses extend from July of 2018 through March of 2019. The most serious offense, enticement of a minor, is punishable by a minimum of 10 years, and up to life, in prison.

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