Michael Christopher Hardy, who was arrested in September 2012 on allegations that he drove to Catoosa County to have sex with a teenager, pleaded guilty in Superior Court this afternoon.
Hardy pleaded guilty to two counts of computer pornography, while the district attorney’s office agreed not to prosecute him on four counts of criminal attempt to commit a felony, said Hardy’s lawyer, McCracken Poston. While each computer charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, Hardy will spend all 20 years on probation.
In all, Poston said Hardy faced up to 120 years in prison. He said his client suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from his time in the military, in which he was tasked with picking up soldiers’ bodies.
“He was like a zombie then and could have been coaxed into agreeing to anything,” Poston said in a statement. “He served our country with honor, and he suffered greatly from recovering the bodies of his colleagues while under fire.”
Members of an FBI Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force arrested Hardy after someone chatted with him undercover, pretending to set him up with a teenager whom he could have sex with. The operation involved officers posting ads on websites like Craigslist.