A judge sentenced a 26-year-old defendant from Walker to the state’s sex offender program last week on convictions for statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl and possession of child pornography.
At a sentencing hearing on Tuesday of last week in Vernon County Circuit Court, Judge David Munton assessed Colby L. Charles concurrent terms of six years each, with the time to be served at the state’s sex offender assessment unit and the court to review the case after 120 days for possible placement on probation.
Charles pleaded guilty to the charges Feb. 22 in a plea deal dismissing a second count of second-degree statutory rape and two other counts of possession of child pornography.
The defendant was accused of having sex with the girl on two occasions in Vernon County. A probable-cause affidavit filed in the case states that she also told investigators that they had sex once in Bates County.
Charles initially denied to investigators that he’d had sex with the girl. But he later admitted that he had, although he claimed she had told him she was 18, according to the affidavit.
The girl, however, told investigators that they had met on Snapchat and that he knew her true age because she had told him she was 15.