A Galena man has pleaded guilty to a sex crime.

The story below by Jason Wert, Branson Tri-Lakes News:

Bryce Lee Williams, 19, pleaded guilty to one count of 1st Degree Sexual Abuse on Aug. 5, 2022 in Stone County Court before Judge David Cole. Under a plea agreement, he was sentenced to seven years in state prison, the maximum for a Class C felony, but the sentence was suspended as part of a Suspended Execution of Sentence. 

The SES means Williams does not immediately go to prison. He will serve five years probation, and if he violates the probation, a judge can order him to serve the prison term. He will also have to register as a Tier I sex offender, meaning he will be on the registry for 15 years.

According to court documents, Stone County Sheriff’s deputies were called to a home in November 2020 over a report of obscene photographs. When the deputy arrived, a woman told the deputy her mother had said her son Williams had taken a nude photograph of his mentally disabled niece. 

The woman also told deputies her mother said she caught Williams and the victim in a house and the victim was putting her shirt back on.

Deputies say it was later discovered Williams had forced the victim to take her clothes off so he could have unwanted sexual activity with her.

“This was a case in which the defendant was 17 at the time of the incident, there were reasons that we did not feel it would be good for the victim to have to testify, and the plea deal was made after much discussion with the victim’s family and their agreement,” Selby told Branson Tri-Lakes News.

Williams had also initially been charged with Rape in the Second Degree.