Man pleads guilty to raping woman with disabilities and sexually abusing teenager
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IDAHO FALLS — A local man pleaded guilty to forcibly raping a 21-year-old woman with disabilities and engaging in lewd conduct with a 13-year-old girl.
Charles Ray Jones, 30, appeared in court Monday morning to enter a guilty plea for both charges against him as part of a plea agreement. The agreement stipulates the prosecution and defense will offer a recommendation of six years fixed and a period of indeterminate time that will be decided later.
Jones is scheduled to be sentenced on April 2.
Jones was arrested on April 21, 2017, and held on $50,000 bond for each charge.
He raped the 21-year-old woman — who functions at the level of an 8-year-old child — at an Idaho Falls hotel. The rape occurred in October 2016 but the victim’s mother told investigators Jones threatened to “make their life hell” if they went to police.
The victim told a counselor about rape. The counselor reported it to the Idaho Falls Police Department in April 2017.
Court documents state the day of the attack, the victim’s mother asked Jones to bring her daughter to the hotel where the mother and her boyfriend were staying.
During their car ride, the victim told officers Jones touched her breasts and inner thigh so she pushed his hands away.
When they arrived at the hotel, the victim’s mother and her boyfriend went outside to smoke. That’s when Jones took the victim into a bathroom, pushing her to the ground and raping her.
When investigators spoke with Jones about the rape, he gave seven versions of what he says happened. He denied raping the woman and, at one point, told police the victim was flirting with him and was “sexually aggressive” toward him.
Court documents show Jones later admitted to investigators he did have forcible sex with the woman in the bathroom, and that he knew she was disabled. Jones maintained he did not threaten the woman or her mother.
Jones also had sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl. According to documents, he said he did it because he “wanted the sexual interaction.”