Sentencing for John Towery and co-defendants

U-S District Court in South Carolina announces sentences in a sex trafficking case in which adults engaged in conspiracies to sex traffic minor children and make child porn.  Federal Judge Coggins placed John Towery, a former Fair-Oak Elementary school officer, along with co-defendant Duwione Allen on five years’ probation with house arrest.  Other sentences were much stiffer.  Gary Garland of Anderson was sentenced to 35 years; his wife, Shannon, 26 and a half years; Johnny Wells, 13 and a half years; Kianna Daily, five years; Glenn Whitcomb one and a half years; and Michael Skelton, just over one year.  U-S Attorney Corey Ellis said, “This case marks and important turning point in the fight against those who seek to exploit children by putting all would be buyers of sex on notice:  law enforcement will go after not just the traffickers who force the minor victims into sexual servitude, but also those who patronize and solicit such sexual encounters.”