As part of a plea agreement, Louie Delgado, 47 of County Road X, Archbold, plead guilty on January 26 in Henry County Common Pleas Court to a reduced charge of rape, a felony of the first-degree; and gross sexual imposition, a third-degree felony.
The original bill of indictment carried six charges. A Henry County grand jury indicted Delgado on six separate counts on September 23, 2020.
A pre-sentence investigation has been ordered, and Delgado was released on his own recognizance with the conditions that he report in person twice per week to the Henry County Adult Probation Department, and have no contact with the alleged victim in this case.
As a further condition of his personal recognizance bond, he was placed on electronic GPS monitoring through the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio.
Delgado’s sentencing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. March 12 in front of Judge John S. Collier. As part of the plea bargain between the office of Henry County Prosecutor Gwen Howe-Gebers and Delgado’s attorney, Chris Dreyer of Swanton, four of the six original charges – a second count of rape, a second count of gross sexual imposition, and two third-degree felo¬ny counts of sexual battery – will be dismissed at sentencing.
The indictment had alleged that Delgado had sexual conduct with two girls between the ages of 13 and 16.
The allegation of the rape charge to which he has plead states that Delgado had sexual conduct with one of the girls, while the gross sexual imposition charge alleges that he had sexual contact with the other victim.
Howe-Geber said the allegations were initially disclosed by the victims to a relative, and that relative then filed a criminal complaint with authorities.
Howe-Geber told The Crescent-News that she is recommending a prison term of seven to ten years, while the sentencing range on the rape charge is three to eleven years.
“They would like to see him (Delgado) go away a long time,” she said. “Given the facts of the case, they were satisfied with the resolution.”