COLDWATER, MI -- A 48-year-old Coldwater woman waived preliminary examination Thursday, Nov. 12 and will appear in circuit court next month on two felony charges in connection with her alleged attempt to arrange a sexual encounter between a disabled teen and a prison inmate, a registered sex offender, who had been scheduled for release last February.
Shane Lee Scott, 40, was due for release from prison when his 15-year sentence ran out in February but was instead transferred to the custody of federal marshals, indicted for his part in planning the sexual assault of mentally challenged teen, records show.
Linda Ehle was arraigned Nov. 5 in Branch County District Court on one count of child abusive commercial activity and a count of computer internet communication with another to commit crime, both felonies, for her part in the plan, authorities say.
Bond was set at $50,000 for one count, $100,000 on the other.
She is scheduled to appear in District Court Dec. 11.
She is to have no contact with the alleged victim.
The 16 year-old girl is mentally delayed and physically disabled, said Detective Sgt. Heather Lass, Michigan State Police Coldwater post.
Shane Lee Scott
This started in September 2014 as an investigation by the Michigan State Police Lakeview post that covers the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia County, Lass said. Prison officials had intercepted letters between Ehle and Shane Scott, a prisoner at the Bellamy facility, she said.
"The letters were very explicit and graphic in nature, arranging to have sex between Scott, upon his release, and the mentally and physically disabled teen," Lass said.
Ehle and Scott had known each other before he went to prison, she said.
The girl is nonverbal, and police are not sure she had ever met Scott.
Scott was indicted federally, and as a result of findings in that investigation authorities conducted search warrants at Ehle's residence, during which her computers and other evidence were seized, Lass said.
She said the computer search indicated Ehle was attempting to make similar arrangements with others on social media sites. Police were unable to verify that any meetings with the girl actually took place, she said.
The teenage female is in a safe secure home, placed by the Department of Social Services, Lass said.