A Knox man pleaded guilty in a plea agreement on a charge of sexual misconduct with a minor as a Level 4 Felony in a hearing in Starke Circuit Court Thursday afternoon.
Donald Haas, 27, admitted to Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall to having sexual intercourse with a female older than the age of 14 and younger than the age of 16 at a home in Knox on June 18, 2019. The teenager was reported missing by her mother and according to factual basis information provided in court the officers found them at his home and he was taken into custody.
The terms of the plea agreement negotiated between Defense Attorney Richard Ballard and Starke County Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Micah Cox were surrounded by extenuating circumstance in this case. With that, Haas was sentenced to seven years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with three years of that sentence suspended to be served on probation. The executed portion of his sentence was permitted to be served on home detention with electronic monitoring with Starke County Community Corrections. Haas will need to participate in Sex Offender Management and Monitoring counseling classes and any other classes deemed appropriate by Starke County Court Services.
As part of the agreement, Haas must register as a sex offender. A no contact order with the victim and the victim’s family will be in place during his entire sentence.
