Millionaire put plane on autopilot to have sex with minor, booked

A 53-year-old millionaire businessman is likely to face 5 years of jail time for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old schoolgirl while flying his private jet. According to reports, the accused, Stephen Bradley Mell, 53, of Bedminster, New Jersey who put his jet on autopilot to carry out his act has pleaded guilty to federal charges of engaging in interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct and also receiving child pornography.

According to The Independent, the mother of the victim is reported to have approached the accused bond trader to give the teenager whom he met through text messages and Snapchat in 2014 according to court documents obtained by the Bridgewater Courier News.

On 20 July 2017, Mell after flew with the victim in his private plane from Somerset Airport to Barnstable, Massachusetts “for the purpose of engaging in illicit conduct, specifically, a sexual act with a person under the age of eighteen", court papers state. On the flight back, he reportedly put the plane on autopilot to engage in sex acts, The Independent adds.

Mell faces sentencing in July on a state charge related to sexual activity with the teen, which he pleaded guilty to earlier this month after admitting endangering the welfare of a child by engaging in sexual relations with a female victim under the age of 16.

He will be sentenced for that charge on 12 July.