URBANA - A 61-year-old Texas man arrested in early January by Decatur police was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Urbana to 27 years in prison for traveling to Illinois to have sex with a 15-year-old girl he met in an Internet chat room.

William H. Veazey of Lewisville, Texas, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Michael P. McCuskey. The judge ordered that should Veazey be released from prison, he must be under supervised release for the remainder of his life.

Veazey was placed in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for transfer to a federal prison.

The girl involved in the case was in reality a Decatur police detective who had several online chats with Veazey between Nov. 20, 2004, and Dec. 30, 2004. During these conversations, Veazey made numerous statements of a sexual nature to persuade the girl to engage in sexual activity.

Veazey also traveled to Decatur to meet the girl, arriving at Decatur Airport on Jan. 7 where he was met by officers who arrested him.

"Though not a young man, he was determined to prey on others as witnessed by his flying to Decatur to meet a young girl," Sgt. Gary Buenting of the Decatur Police Department said Friday.

The Decatur department has pursued several cases in the past year involving sexual predators found through online chat rooms.

Veazey committed the federal offenses after previously pleading guilty in 1995 to sexually abusing his minor stepdaughter. He was serving a 10-year probation sentence for that crime at the time of his arrest in January.

On Friday, the government recommended that, given Veazey's prior sex offense and the nature of the federal offenses, the court apply a zero-tolerance approach to imposing the recommended sentence of 27 years under the advisory sentencing guidelines. McCuskey agreed.

"The Internet creates new ways for sexual predators to lure unsuspecting and vulnerable children," said U.S. Attorney Rodger A. Heaton. "The defendant in this case traveled hundreds of miles under the pretext that he was to meet a young girl in Illinois. Fortunately, no children were harmed in this instance; however, those who engage in this reprehensible behavior should expect to face severe penalties."

Decatur police were assisted in the investigation of Veazey by the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Ron Ingram can be reached at ringram@; herald-review.com or 421-7973.