Country Musician Pleads to Kiddie Sex Charge

DALLAS (CN) - A banjo player for a well-known country musician admitted he asked what he thought was a Dallas mother to let him have sex with her under-age daughters.

Abraham Eugene Spear, 30, of Nashville, pleaded guilty Friday a federal charge of attempted enticement of a minor. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors said.

Spear played in the band of Josh Thompson, who has nothing to do with the charges against Spear.

Spear admitted that for more than a month he used the Internet and telephone to try to persuade with what he thought was a 7-year-old girl into having sex with him, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.

"Spear, using the monikers of MUSICMAN30 and BANJOPAINE, communicated over several weeks with an undercover law enforcement agent, whom Spear believed to be the mother of two girls, ages seven and nine," prosecutors said in the statement. "During these communications, he persuaded, or attempted to persuade, the 'mother' to allow him to meet her two girls to engage in different sexual acts with him."

Prosecutors said Spear traveled to Dallas on Sept. 20 to perform with Thompson's band at a bar in Dallas and agreed to meet the mother at a restaurant, where he was arrested by the FBI.

"Spear admitted that many of the messages he sent were sexual in nature and geared toward the 'mother's' seven and nine-year-old daughters," prosecutors said. "Spear also admitted sending a sexually explicit photo of himself to the 'mother,' asking what the girls would think of the photo."

Spear admitted that he had engaged in other sexually explicit communications with other mothers of underage girls, including one case where he offered to pay $200 to engage in sexual acts with a child, prosecutors said.

Spear has been in federal custody since his arrest. He will be sentenced on June 7.

Spear joined Thompson's band in 2010, playing pedal steel, banjo and guitar.

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