Three adult teen-agers in Terre Haute drugged a 14-year old girl and took her to a hotel room where two of the men sexually assaulted the girl while the third man videotaped the assault on his cell phone and shared those images with others via the Internet. According to the original charging information, the men gave her a drug-laced gummy bear. The three men were originally faced a variety of felony charges ranging from sexual deviate conduct, sexual assault, child exploitation and possession of child pornography. As it turned out, the justice system was on their side in the final analysis.
The three men entered a plea agreement in a Vigo County courtroom yesterday where they were let off with much less serious charges. Perp 1, Peter Tanoos II (18), pleaded guilty to criminal recklessness and misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Being the one with the most prominent last name of the three, Tanoos got the lightest sentence, having to serve only 274 days on work release. Tanoos admitted the 14-year old girl was unaware of what was happening to her at the time of the assault.
Perp 2, Tucker Ray (18), pleaded guilty to criminal recklessness and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was sentenced to 730 days on work release. Like Tanoos, he admitted the girl was unaware of what was happening to her. Note that neither Tanoos nor Ray will be required to register as sex offenders.
Perp 3, Christopher Hayden (19), the odd man out and supposed friend of the 14-year old who did the videotaping of the sexual assault, was the only one to receive a prison sentence. He received an 18-month prison sentence, which has already been served, after pleading guilty to felony distribution of obscene material and misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor. All three men were required to read aloud public apologies to the girl in court, which you can read here at WTHI-TV's website.
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