On Jan. 22, U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced former Beech Mountain police officer and Avery school resource officer Michael Bruce Darcy to 151 months in federal prison.

Darcy was arrested on Feb. 24, 2009 and charged with transporting a 15-year-old minor to another state in 2007 with the intent to have illegal sex with that minor and traveling to another state with the intent of engaging in illicit activity with a minor.

The federal indictment followed an investigation by the FBI, the Boone Police Department and the Beech Mountain Police Department.

Darcy's trial took place in U.S. District Court in Asheville before Judge Lacy H. Thornburg in July of last year. After a jury trial that lasted two days, he was found guilty of both counts and was held in federal custody until his sentencing.

Reidinger imposed the active sentence of 151 months (12 years, six months), to be followed by a life term of supervised release. Darcy will have to register as a sex offender and to have no contact with the victim. He was also ordered to pay a $200 special court assessment.

After the sentencing, Darcy was transported to the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Ga., where he will undergo assessment and placement at a permanent location in the federal prison system.

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