A well-known Mississippi businessman and former newspaper publisher will soon be heading to federal prison for at least ten years after admitting in federal court that he lured a 16-year-old Columbia victim to meet him at a hotel for sex.
49-year-old Zachary Wes Buckley pleaded guilty to one count of enticing a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity, during a court appearance at Jefferson City’s Christopher Bond federal courthouse. Buckley appeared in federal court on Tuesday, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Willie Epps.
Federal prosecutors say Buckley and the teen began communicating in an online chat room in January then moved to GoogleChat. The FBI, federal prosecutors, the Boone County Sheriff’s Department and Mississippi authorities have been involved in the investigation.
The “Laurel Leader-Call” newspaper in Mississippi reports Buckley was the publisher of two newspapers and that arrest shocked many in the community who knew him as a community leader and someone active in church and civic organizations. The “Laurel Leader-Call” reports Buckley often covered local school and youth sporting events in Mississippi.
Federal prosecutors say Buckley admits that he traveled to Columbia and rented a room at a local hotel, where he had sex with the child victim.
