UPDATED PRESS RELEASE: Madison County Foster Parent Sentenced to Twenty Five Years for Sexual Battery of Child
Madison and Rankin Counties’ District Attorney Bubba Bramlett announced today that Michael Anthony Lee was sentenced for the sexual battery of his foster daughter. Circuit Court Judge Bradley Mills sentenced Lee to serve twenty five years without the possibility of parole or early release. Lee will have to register as a sex offender upon his release.
Lee pleaded guilty to Sexual Battery of his foster daughter on January 17, 2023. Lee, 41, was living in Canton with his wife. They were licensed foster parents through Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services when the 15 year old child was placed in their home. Shortly after her placement, Michael Anthony Lee began engaging in sexual contact with the victim. The abuse continued throughout the victim's six month placement in Lee's home.
Chloe Turner, a CPS social worker, discovered the communications between the victim and Lee after the child was moved to another foster family in north Mississippi. Law enforcement was immediately notified, and a joint investigation was initiated involving both CPS and the Madison County Sheriff’s Department. Investigators executed a search warrant on Lee’s phone and found pornographic images of the victim on his phone.
The CPS investigative specialist spoke along with Assistant District Attorney Katie Moulds at the sentencing hearing. Both called for the Court to give Lee the maximum sentence and reminded the Court that the Defendant had proactively put himself in his position as a foster parent so that he could have access to minor children.
District Attorney Bramlett stated, “We would like to extend a special appreciation to Chloe Turner with Child Protective Services. Her dedication to the children in CPS’s care showed in this case as she immediately took steps to save this child’s life. We are pleased this Defendant will spend the next twenty-five years in prison.”
DEFENDANT:
MICHAEL ANTHONY LEE
DOB: 01/01/1982
