A Texas man and repeat sex offender who tried to kidnap an Ohio girl he met while playing Call of Duty Game will spend the next 20 to 30 years behind bars in a federal prison after pleading guilty to a series of exploitation charges.
Harrison Michael BartonThe 38-year-old, who lives in Detroit, Texas, accepted a plea deal from federal prosecutors on Thursday, February 5.
Barton, as part of his plea, admitted he had traveled from Texas to Ohio to sexually assault the victim, who was just 15 at the time.
Barton was arrested by federal authorities in February 2025 at John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Ohio. According to investigators, he was arrested while trying to board a flight to Florida with the victim.
Us Weekly obtained court documents detailing how Barton traveled by Greyhound bus to Ohio to meet the 15-year-old, whom he had initially met while using the Call of Duty: Mobile game
A news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Ohio states that Barton pleaded guilty “to felony exploitation charges after traveling to Ohio to engage in sexual relations with a minor he met online.”
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Specifically, Barton pleaded guilty to charges of travel with the intent to engage in unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor, attempted abduction of a minor, and possession of child sexual abuse material.
Barton was initially arrested on an outstanding Texas probation warrant stemming from a prior conviction for online solicitation of a minor, for which he had been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In this most recent case, Barton admitted that the teenage victim picked him up at a bus stop in Newcomerstown, Ohio. “Before arriving at the airport, the defendant admitted to having vaginal and oral sex with the minor and to having taken sexually explicit photographs of the victim,” says the statement from the federal prosecutor’s office. It was unclear when Barton would be sentenced.
The guilty plea was announced by officials from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, the Cincinnati Division of the FBI and several Ohio law enforcement agencies. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorneys Emily Czerniejewski i Jennifer M. Rausch.
The investigation was conducted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Justice Department initiative focused on identifying victims, apprehending offenders and combating the sexual exploitation of children through coordinated federal, state and local efforts, officials said.
If you know of a young person who is being exploited or is a victim of a crime, please report it to your local FBI office by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI. Tips can also be left at tips.fbi.gov
Parents, teachers and guardians interested in learning more about how to protect children from exploitation can find helpful tools and information at Know2Protect.