He traded teens e-cigs for illicit pics. Judge: ‘You took complete advantage of kids’

A Montgomery County judge said a man was the embodiment of everything parents warn teens about the internet before sentencing him to the maximum punishment Thursday morning.

Michael O. Fowler Jr., 46, was sentenced to 18 months in prison by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Montgomery. Fowler pleaded guilty in a case that accused him of obtaining naked photos from young teenage girls in exchange for buying them electronic cigarettes.

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“You are the very person we warn our kids to stay away from when they are online,” the judge said during the sentencing. “We warn our kids constantly of people they meet on social media … You went after them the way we tell them to be careful of.”

The 18-month sentence was the maximum sentence under the plea negotiations agreed to by both the prosecutor and the defense. Fowler isn’t accused of touching the girls, but Montgomery said his actions are inexcusable and called for a prison sentence.

“It was a quid pro quo, it was something which you knew they couldn’t buy on their own,” she said. “You took complete advantage of kids.”

Before the sentencing, a mother of one of the girls said the incidents have had a big impact on her daughter and asked the judge to sentence Fowler to the maximum.

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Fowler and his attorney filed documents before the sentencing that said that his dad died recently and that has caused him to act out. Montgomery said she wasn’t convinced that’s why he was in court.

Fowler was given about four months worth of jail time credit.

This wasn’t the first time Fowler was in trouble for talking with teenage girls. Fowler was previously sentenced to a suspended 180 days in a child enticement case in Clark County.

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