Man to serve 14-year sentence in federal prison for molestation

CEDAR RAPIDS - A 28-year-old Air Force Senior Airman was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison Wednesday for sexually molesting a 14-year-old Iowa girl and taking her to Georgia for a month.

Gary Archer, of Valdosta, Ga, pleaded guilty in April to one count of interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual activity and one count of transporting a minor in interstate commerce with the intent to engage in unlawful sexual activity. He admitted coming to Iowa from Georgia on May 28 to have sex with the girl and then taking her to Georgia in July.

Archer and the girl stayed at a hotel in Iowa for a week before traveling to Georgia, and then stayed a month at a hotel and his apartment in Valdosta, Ga, according court records. He had an elaborate scheme to get the girl's father to give her permission to travel to Georgia by disguising his voice through an application on his cellphone. Archer pretended to be a woman - a mother of a “sick friend” who asked for the girl to come visit.

Archer received a reduced sentence as U.S. District Chief Judge Linda Reade deviated from the guidelines. She sentenced Archer to 14 years on each count and ran them concurrently. He could have received up to 30 years on count one and 10 to life on count two.

Archer held his head down during most of the sentencing and was shaking before Reade pronounced the sentence.

The victim told the court “we all made mistakes. I wasn't in a good place back then. I made one and so did Gary.”

The girl said she didn't think Archer should be “put away forever. He needs help like I do.”

Archer told the court he “wasn't the evil person I've been made out to be.” He said he was lonely and depressed and they “connected immediately.”

“I know what I did was illegal,” Archer said. “I crossed the line ... I know that was wrong.”

Archer will have to serve 10 years of supervised probation upon his release and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Archer has been in the Air Force since 2006 and was stationed at Moody Air Force Base, near Valdosta, Ga.