Suicide puts end to underage sex case

MILAN, Mich., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- A federal prosecutor arrested in a police sting against underage sex crimes apparently committed suicide in a Michigan prison this week.

The Detroit Free Press said Saturday that federal prosecutor J.D. Roy Atchison apparently killed himself in a one-person cell this week at the prison in Milan.

Prison officials said the 53-year-old, who had been transferred to the prison recently after an alleged suicide attempt last month, had shown no signs of despondency prior to his death.

A Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman said Atchison was unresponsive when prison officials found him hanging in his solitary confinement cell Friday.

Atchison was arrested Sept. 16 at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport where he allegedly had planned to meet with a woman who had agreed to let him have sex with her 5-year-old daughter.

A police detective had posed as the woman online as part of an underage sex sting and allegedly had coordinated the meeting with the married prosecutor, the newspaper said.