Defendant pleads down to misdemeanor in rape case
Jun. 3—A 20-year-old man has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of sexual abuse in a case where he was accused of forcibly raping a 15-year-old girl in the restroom at Leonard Park.
Cameron H. Danley, of Joplin, pleaded guilty at a hearing Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court to a reduced charge of second-degree sexual abuse in a plea agreement calling for a suspended sentence and probation. He had been facing a felony count of second-degree rape.
Judge David Mouton accepted the plea deal and assessed Danley one year in jail, with execution of the sentence suspended and the defendant placed on supervised probation for two years. While on probation, he is required to complete any sex offender treatment program recommended by his probation officer.
A probable-cause affidavit stated that Danley met the girl at the park on Sept. 21, 2018, and the two of them went into the restroom "to smoke out of a vape-smoking machine."
The affidavit states that she told him to stop but that he ultimately raped her.
