Church volunteer, charged with sex crimes, sentenced to federal prison
GRAND RAPIDS — A Jonesville man who fled to the Philippines to avoid prosecution on dozens of child sex abuse charges last summer has been sentenced to 50 years in federal prison.
The Hillsdale County Prosecutor’s Office turned over a number of criminal allegations to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan when it was discovered Tye Braxton Stiger, 37, fled the United States.
He was arrested in the Philippines in February and extradited to the United States where he eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation and attempted sexual exploitation of a child.
During his plea hearing in May, he admitted to using a concealed camera to capture young girls changing clothes between 2007 and 2009 and again in 2022.
On Aug. 14, Stiger was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison followed by 10 years of supervised release.
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Charges pending in Hillsdale County related to the child sexually abusive activity and material, as well as charges related to eavesdropping, will be dismissed, said Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jamie Wisniewski.
The Hillsdale County Prosecutor’s Office will continue to pursue two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct locally, each crime punishable by 15 years in state prison.
Stiger — a former church volunteer linked to at least two local churches over the past decade — came under investigation by the Michigan State Police in February 2022 when a former victim came forward.
The victim alleged that Stiger sexually abused her as a child between 2009 and 2015 while Stiger acted as a Sunday school teacher.
The incidents occurred at several homes where he resided and during a church camping trip.
As a result of the police investigation, a search warrant was executed at Stiger’s home on Feb. 23, 2022, where a number of devices were seized from the home including cellphones and computers.
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An analysis of the devices by the MSP Crime Lab determined the devices contained images and video of suspected child sexually abusive material.
There were over a dozen videos of Stiger placing a hidden camera at various locations to secretly record minor children changing and many of the children in the videos remain unidentified.
The prosecutor’s office said that Stiger was known to volunteer with the Hillsdale Assembly of God and Hillsdale United Brethren Church communities.
— Contact Reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Church volunteer, charged with sex crimes, sentenced to federal prison
