A former Camp Pendleton Marine who solicited sexual pictures from a 13-year-old Florida girl has been sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison.
Schyular Quinton Willis, 24, was arrested last October at Camp Pendleton after the victim's father reported to police that Willis and his daughter were exchanging inappropriate text messages, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida.
Those messages included multiple nude pictures of both Willis and the girl, prosecutors say.
"Throughout the text thread, sexual intercourse and the production of child sexual abuse materials were discussed on several occasions," prosecutors said in a news release issued on Monday after Willis was sentenced.
Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters.
According to a criminal complaint filed last year, one of those pictures of Willis, who is a native of Florida, featured him "laying on the bed with a Marine Corps-issued blouse visible in what appears to be a military barracks room."
Willis also met with the teen while he was in Florida, according to prosecutors.
A sentencing memorandum from Willis' defense attorney states that at the time of the offenses, Willis was an active-duty lance corporal with Alpha Battery, 3d Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion, which is based at Camp Pendleton.
Local
The U.S. Attorney's Office said that following his arrest, a review of Willis' cell phone revealed text messages between him and the girl spanning about three months, which included references to possible sexual activity between Willis and the victim.
Willis also admitted to investigators that he had talked with the girl in a sexual manner and said doing so was a mistake, according to prosecutors.
Willis pleaded guilty in January to attempted online enticement of a minor child to engage in sexual activity and was sentenced Friday to 17 years and six months in prison.
