Statesboro Police arrested a 19-year-old man they said had sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl in a local restaurant’s bathroom.
Mykell Maurice Thomas, 19, Lanier Drive, is charged with statutory rape and is being held at the Bulloch County Jail without bond, according to jail records.
Statesboro Police Capt. Scott Brunson said officers were called to Big Pete’s Pizzeria Sunday after the juvenile’s mother called to report the crime.
Thomas and the girl were not in a relationship and had recently met, and the encounter was consensual, he said. The two entered the restaurant bathroom together and were discovered by an employee. Thomas was friends with one of the restaurant employees, he said.
Although the girl may have agreed to the encounter, it is still against the law. According to Web site www.cga.ct.gov, citing Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G. A. A. 16-6-3, it is against the law in Georgia to “have sexual intercourse with someone under age 16.”
The penalty for conviction of the crime is one to 20 years in prison, but if the offender is 21 or older, the minimum penalty is 10 years in prison.
If the offender is only three years older than the victim (or less), and the victim is 14 or 15, the penalty is up to one year in prison, according to the web site.
A person convicted of statutory rape must also register as a convicted sex offender upon release from prison, according to Georgia law.
Mykell Maurice Thomas, 19, Lanier Drive, is charged with statutory rape and is being held at the Bulloch County Jail without bond, according to jail records.
Statesboro Police Capt. Scott Brunson said officers were called to Big Pete’s Pizzeria Sunday after the juvenile’s mother called to report the crime.
Thomas and the girl were not in a relationship and had recently met, and the encounter was consensual, he said. The two entered the restaurant bathroom together and were discovered by an employee. Thomas was friends with one of the restaurant employees, he said.
Although the girl may have agreed to the encounter, it is still against the law. According to Web site www.cga.ct.gov, citing Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G. A. A. 16-6-3, it is against the law in Georgia to “have sexual intercourse with someone under age 16.”
The penalty for conviction of the crime is one to 20 years in prison, but if the offender is 21 or older, the minimum penalty is 10 years in prison.
If the offender is only three years older than the victim (or less), and the victim is 14 or 15, the penalty is up to one year in prison, according to the web site.
A person convicted of statutory rape must also register as a convicted sex offender upon release from prison, according to Georgia law.