A Texas man who was already a registered sex offender was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Columbus to 30 years in prison for sexually exploiting a 15-year-old Ohio girl he met online, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio. Harrison Michael Barton, 39, of North Detroit, Texas, received a 360-month sentence from U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. The Columbus Dispatch confirmed the sentence in its own reporting on Thursday.
Barton pleaded guilty in February 2026 to sexual exploitation of a minor and attempted kidnapping of a minor, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office release. The Columbus Dispatch, citing the plea proceedings, reported that his plea agreement had recommended a sentence of 25 to 30 years, and Thursday’s sentence landed at the top of that range.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office release, Barton took a 31-hour Greyhound bus trip from Florida to Coshocton County in February 2025 to exploit a 15-year-old girl he had met online about a month earlier. The Columbus Dispatch, citing court records, reported that Barton met the teenager while playing the video game Call of Duty online.
Barton admitted that the teenager picked him up in Newcomerstown, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office release. He also admitted to engaging in sexual conduct with the minor and taking sexually explicit pictures of her. He was arrested at John Glenn Columbus International Airport while attempting to fly to Florida with the victim, the release said.
At the time of his arrest in Ohio, Barton was wanted on an outstanding parole warrant out of Texas stemming from a prior conviction for online solicitation of a minor, for which he had previously been sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office release and court records cited by The Columbus Dispatch.
"Barton was a registered sex offender who traveled the country to commit crimes against a minor he met online," U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II said in the U.S. Attorney’s Office release. "He is a predator, and his history makes clear that he poses a grave and ongoing threat. My Office will never stop pursuing those who prey on children." The sentence was also announced by FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Jason Cromartie, Coshocton County Sheriff Christopher Walters, Newark Police Chief Erik McKee and airport Police Chief Ronald Gray, according to the release. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily Czerniejewski and Jennifer M. Rausch prosecuted the case.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, the nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office release. Thursday’s sentencing is the concluding court action reported in the case, and Barton will now serve the 30-year federal prison term imposed in Columbus.