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Pennsylvania Man Who Fled To Mexico With Teen Girl Sentenced Up To 5 Years In Prison

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ALLENTOWN, Pa. (CBS/AP) — A Pennsylvania man who frequently checked a teenager out of school without her mother's knowledge and fled to Mexico with her has been sentenced to 2½ to five years in prison.

Forty-five-year-old Kevin Esterly was sentenced at an emotional hearing Monday after pleading guilty last month to misdemeanor corruption of a minor. Two felony charges were dropped as part of the plea deal.

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Esterly and 16-year-old Amy Yu were found in Mexico on March 17 , about two weeks after they disappeared from Allentown. The girl's family said the two met at church years ago, and the teenager was friends with one of Esterly's children.

kevin esterly amy yu LARGE
Credit: Allentown Police

Police believe the teenager went willingly.

Esterly apologized during his plea hearing but said the relationship was innocent. Lehigh County Court Judge Maria Dantos told him he had ruined two families.

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Esterly's wife has since filed for divorce and Yu's mother is suing him and her daughter's school for emotional and financial damages.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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