Man sentenced to prison for raping vulnerable adult
Published at | Updated at
IDAHO FALLS – An Idaho Falls man was sentenced Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to lewd conduct with a vulnerable adult.
Charles Thomas Drane, 40, was sentenced by District Judge Dane Watkins Jr. to a minimum of two years and six months and a maximum of 13 and a half years in prison.
RELATED | Man pleads not guilty to felony sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult
Detectives with the Idaho Falls Police Department were assigned to the case on July 27, 2021, to investigate a rape at a home in Idaho Falls.
According to court documents, the victim was a 27-year-old woman with a mental capacity of between 7 to 11 years old. The victim lived full-time with a caretaker.
The victim told police that her neighbor, identified as Drane, told her on July 25, 2021, that he “had a gift for her.”
At around 8:30 p.m. that night, the victim went to Drane’s house to see the gift. She told police she sat on a large tan couch, and Drane told her to get on the floor.
According to court documents, he then began to sexually assault her “below the belt.”
After the assault, Drane told the victim “not to say anything to anyone, or he would hurt her and anyone else with a knife,” according to the police report.
A sexual assault examination was later conducted with the victim by a sexual assault nurse examiner to obtain DNA samples.
On July 29, IFPD served a search warrant at Drane’s home. He was then taken to the police department to get a DNA swab done.
Drane was interviewed by detectives, where he “vehemently denied any physical contact whatsoever with the victim.”
In November 2021, investigators received the results from the DNA swabs, which showed that the victim’s swab contained a DNA mixture of two people.
According to court documents, the DNA is “at least 17.8 septillion times more likely to be a combination of DNA from (the victim) and (Drane) than to come the (the victim) and any other individual.”
Drane was arrested and booked into the Bonneville County Jail on March 2, 2022, where his bond was set to $20,000.
A no-contact order was issued for the victim on March 4.