William Eugene White Jr., 29, allegedly created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to meet a teenage girl in Montana. (Missoula County Sheriff's Department)
FOX NEWS - An Indiana man who allegedly tried to crowdfund travel and a tryst with an underage girl in Montana has been charged with felony sexual abuse of children.
William Eugene White Jr., a 29-year-old from Montezuma, was arrested Monday at a homeless shelter in Missoula, according to Fox 59 Indianapolis. White reportedly spent the night at the shelter with the 14-year-old girl, reported to be his “fiancée.”
White was arrested and appeared in Missoula County Justice Court Tuesday. Fox 59 reported he did not enter a plea and his case was assigned to the public defender’s office.
GoFundMe, the crowdsourcing site White used to raise funds, told KGVO that "the campaign was immediately removed, did not receive any donations, and the user has been banned.”
Deputy Missoula County Attorney Mark Handelman asked Judge Mike Frellick for a $25,000 bond for White.
“This charge stems from this defendant who is 29 years of age traveling to Montana from Indiana to be with his 14-year-old ‘fiance’,” Handelman said, according to KGVO. “He even started a GoFundMe page to get the money he needed to come here. The victim ran away with him and they spent the night of August 20th together and committed the acts detailed in the affidavit of probable cause. Therefore, the state is asking for bail of $25,000 and conditions that he have no contact with anyone under the age of 18.”