The Department of Justice says a South Carolina man pleaded guilty to meeting a minor from Belle Chase, Louisiana through an Xbox game and then made plans together to meet and have sex.
According to court documents, in October of 2021, Graham Lovelace, 33, from Greenville, South Carolina met the 15-year-old victim through a chat feature in an Xbox game.
The two exchanged sexually explicit messages, videos, and photos over the past year.
The DOJ says the Lovelace and the victim made plans to meet in real life, and in January, Lovelace purchased a bus ticket for the minor to travel from New Orleans to Greenville, South Carolina.
However, the 15-year-old’s mother discovered the sexually explicit messages and their plan to meet to have sex.
The mother informed Lovelace that the person was a minor and prevented the minor from traveling following through with their plans to meet in South Carolina for sex.
In the fall of 2021, Lovelace and the minor made plans for Lovelace to travel to Louisiana to pick up the minor and return to South Carolina together to have sex and spend “the rest of their lives together.”
In October, Lovelace drove from South Carolina to the minor’s school bus stop in Belle Chase to meet and pick up the minor.
The DOJ says together they then traveled to a New Orleans where they stayed in a hotel room together and had sexual intercourse.
The next day, police found Lovelace and the minor “walking hand-in-hand” down Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
Lovelace was arrested and charged with one count of interstate travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct according to court documents.
Lovelace faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years or a minimum of five years in prison when he is sentenced on August 18.
