Air Force Sergeant Pleads Guilty To Child Sexual Assault

An Air Force Sergeant has pleaded guilty to sexually molesting young girls while he was stationed in Germany in the U.S.

Technology Sergeant Michael L. Merritt admitted to sexually assaulting four girls from ages 5 to 14 between the years 2003 to 2013, the Associated Press reported. Merritt also pleaded guilty to kidnapping charges.

The sergeant was sentenced by a military judge in Wyoming to 50 years in prison. But an Air Force spokeswoman told the AP he will serve 25 years because he pleaded guilty. Merritt was court-martialed earlier this week at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne.

Merritt was transferred to the F.E. Warren base last August and was arrested in October, the AP reported. He was transferred to Germany in 2006 from another U.S. city.

"This predator caused a lot of pain and suffering in our community, and we hope this conviction provides healing and a sense of security for all those affected," Lieutenant General Tom Jones, vice commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe, said in a statement to the AP.

Officials at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany said they found forensic evidence on clothing that tied Merritt to child kidnapping and molestation, the AP reported.

Merritt said he engaged in criminal sexual behavior with a girl in Cheyenne in the fall of 2013. All of the children named in Merritt's guilty pleas were U.S. military dependent children, Air Force spokeswoman Captain Eydie Sakura, based at F.E. Warren, told the AP.

"His access to children was strictly off-duty," Sakura told the AP. "He did not have a job or responsibilities with childcare, education or direct work-related contact with children. He also did not do any volunteer work either."

Sakura said she could not release Merritt's age. He will be stripped of his rank and pay and will be dishonorably discharged. Merritt will serve his sentence at a military prison at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, the AP reported.