Thirty years in the federal prison system was the sentence handed down this week for a 46 year old resident of Maine who was arrested in Sturgeon Bay in 2009 for transporting a minor girl across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Archie Whalen, who was convicted on the charge in July, was sentenced to the prison time during a court appearance in Kentucky. Whalen had been accused of picking up a 13 year old girl at her home in Owensboro, Kentucky on September 26th, 2009 & beginning a trip that ended in Sturgeon Bay a day later. On that day, a city police officer observed a vehicle with a Maine license plate & knew that a multi-state amber alert had been issued about the girl. The officer conducted a felony traffic stop & Whalen was taken into custody. The Sturgeon Bay Police Department had been alerted that the FBI believed it was possible that Whalen would travel to Sturgeon Bay because relatives lived there. He was acquainted with the young girl & her mother because they had briefly lived in Maine. Whalen has a prior state felony conviction in Maine for unlawful possession of a firearm.
