Macktion is awesome! Through his help and guidance, we learned that someone had possibly attempted to install JB on my Visual Land ME-110 unsuccessfully, and for some reason blocked out the ability to update anything. After reflashing the stock rom for ICS from this site, the USB functioned perfectly and I was able to install Google Play without difficulty. I will determine whether I want to go from ICS to JB later, but for now, it works like a charm!
Ryan