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Sheriff: Prosecutor in sex sting tried suicide

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 21, 2007

DETROIT - A federal prosecutor from Florida who authorities say flew to Michigan hoping for a sexual encounter with a 5-year-old girl tried to hang himself in jail Thursday but was stopped in time, the sheriff said.

John D.R. Atchison, 53, used a sheet in an attempted hanging about 4 a.m., said Sanilac County Sheriff Virgil Strickler.

Another inmate yelled out to jailers, who kept Atchison from hurting himself, Strickler said.

The 119-bed Sanilac County Jail is in Sandusky, about 75 miles north of Detroit. U.S. marshals sometimes use it to house federal prisoners. Marshals moved Atchison after the suicide attempt, the sheriff said. Atchison's destination was not known.

The married father of three is an assistant U.S. attorney based in Pensacola and president of a youth sports association in Gulf Breeze.

He was arrested Sunday and was initially placed on a suicide watch, but the watch was lifted at the request of the defense after Atchison assured a U.S. magistrate Tuesday he wouldn't harm himself.

Atchison was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after arriving for a meeting with someone who authorities say Atchison thought was the mother of a 5-year-old girl with whom he is accused of arranging to have sex. The woman was actually a Macomb County sheriff's detective participating in an Internet sex sting operation.

Atchison was charged with three felonies, the most serious of which is crossing state lines with intent to have sex with someone under 12. Conviction carries a minimum 30-year prison sentence and a maximum of life.

Atchison's boss, U.S. Attorney Gregory R. Miller, said in a statement that his office is cooperating with the investigation.

[Last modified September 20, 2007, 23:41:03]