Idaho man rapes girlfriend's 12-year-old sister after inviting her to 'family reunion', gets 17 years
REXBURG, IDAHO: A 26-year-old man was sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping a 12-year-old girl while camping at Palisades Reservoir in 2018.
Stetson Tyler Perry was initially charged with lewd conduct with a minor. Instead of going for a trial, Perry opted to enter an Alford Plea — which lets the accused maintain his innocence in the alleged crime but at the same time acknowledge the fact that a jury would likely find them guilty with the evidence presented, East Idaho News reported.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Perry was dating the victim's sister at the time that the crime occurred. Perry had arranged a family reunion and invited both the victim as well as the victim's sister. For some reason, his girlfriend at the time was supposed to join the reunion a day after her younger sister.
Apparently the victim's parents let her go on ahead of her sister to the reunion with the understanding that her friends would also be attending and expected she would sleep with them. Instead, however, she slept in Perry’s trailer, where the alleged rape occurred.
The victim's mother told a deputy she did not want to make assumptions, despite noticing that Perry had become unusually close with her younger daughter. Her suspicions about their relationship were raised when she overheard a conversation where Perry asked the victim if he had “competition". After some digging, she found out that the suspect referred to her younger daughter as “darling” and “Angel Eyes” in messages, Idaho State Journal reported.
The minor, whose identity was not revealed, told the authorities during a forensic interview that she was sleeping in a camper when Perry woke her up in the middle of the night, removed her clothes and raped her, the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office said.
Apart from the rape, the victim also told the investigator as well as her mother that prior to the incidents, Perry had kissed her. She added that the accused had also sent an inappropriate picture of himself to her before the rape occurred. No words were exchanged between the victim and Perry immediately before, during, or after the rape.
The detectives also recovered the messages that Perry had sent the 12-year-old, where he talked about snuggling with her and dressing her up in camo. When he was interrogated by the police, he admitted to sending an estimated 10 to 15 messages a day to the victim. However, the authorities later found out that Perry had sent as many as 100 messages to her in a day.
After the alleged rape, the victim's sister confronted the accused about the allegations and recorded his response. He denied raping her sister and said that he did not mean what he had written in the messages at the time. He also said that he told the victim that he would like to date her when she turned 18 as a joke.
This was followed by the suspect getting agitated and telling the victim's sister that he would disappear. When he threatened her with self-harm, she called the police. During his interrogation, Perry exuded a calm exterior, although he told the detectives that he was "pissed off" due to the allegations. He did become nervous when the police asked to see his phone but later consented.
As part of his sentence, Perry was also ordered by the judge to pay $1,545.50 in fees and fines.