Carthage man sent to prison under new plea deal in statutory rape case
Jan. 30—A judge sentenced a 20-year-old Carthage man Monday to a prison sentence in what previously was a count of statutory rape.
Judge Dean Dankelson at a hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court assessed Blake Gonzalez-Reyes a term of 10 years on a conviction in third-degree child molestation, with the judge to review the matter for possible placement on probation after 120 days served in the state's sex offender assessment unit.
Gonzalez-Reyes originally was charged with first-degree statutory rape in the case involving the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl from Joplin.
The defendant pleaded guilty to the count in a plea deal in July that called for a 10-year sentence with a court review after 120 days. When the Missouri Department of Corrections informed the court that a 120-day review could not be granted on a conviction for an offense as serious as first-degree statutory rape, Gonzalez-Reyes was allowed to plead down to the child molestation count in a new plea deal.
Gonzalez-Reyes and co-defendant Roldy E. DeLeon, 22, were accused of picking up three minors in Joplin and giving them a ride to Carthage, where DeLeon purchased alcohol and took them to a residence for the night.
The three juveniles were reported missing overnight, and Carthage police located two of them in a park the following day and learned that the third may have been a victim of statutory rape. The third minor was located and, during an interview at the Children's Center in Joplin, acknowledged having had sex with two men the previous night.
DeLeon pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree statutory rape last year and was sentenced to seven years, with the term to be served at the sex offender unit and the court to review the matter after 120 days for possible placement on probation.
Judge David Mouton decided in October not to grant that probation and ordered DeLeon to remain locked up on the seven-year sentence.
