GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A convicted sex offender who pleaded guilty to luring a 14-year-old East Tennessee girl away from home has been sentenced to life in prison plus five years.
U.S. Attorney Nancy Stallard Harr said in a statement that 43-year-old Benjamin Shook received the sentence last week in federal court in Greeneville. He had pleaded guilty in June to charges that included kidnapping, enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity and failing to register as a sex offender.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Amber Alert for the teen on June 23, 2015, saying she had left her Surgoinsville home and was later spotted with Shook. Police found the pair about two weeks later in southern Virginia.
Shook was taken into custody. The teen was returned to her family.