Man pleads not guilty to abusing three kids at gathering

DRIGGS — A 22-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to abusing multiple relatives under 18.

Daniel Keith Stanworth is charged with three felony counts of child sexual abuse.

On May 29, a Teton County Sheriff’s detective received a report from the father of a 15-year-old girl stating that his daughter told him she had been “touched in private areas” by Stanworth at a lodge in Driggs the weekend before.

Detectives scheduled a forensic interview for the girl, who said she and other children were watching a movie in the lodge’s basement on May 26 when Stanworth “offered to let (the 15-year-old) sit on his knee while they were watching a movie, as there was no room left on the couch.”

The girl also told investigators that Stanworth “made a comment to her about wanting her to be his friend,” which she said “sounded odd to her.”

She then stated that Stanworth began touching her inappropriately, so she told him not to touch her “like that,” but he allegedly continued to abuse her.

The girl told investigators she was “afraid that (Stanworth) was going to do something worse” and didn’t think any of the other (children) noticed what was going on.”

She said she was not able to get away from him because he was holding her, but she eventually escaped and went into the bathroom, crying.

When she returned, she sat far away from Stanworth, and he allegedly “threw a hat at her, which hit her in the lip.”

When she left to go upstairs, she stated that Stanworth was “cuddling with one of her other cousins,” who was 11 years old.

Detectives then met with the mother of the 11-year-old, who spoke with her children and reportedly learned that two of her children, the 11-year-old and a 13-year-old, both said Stanworth had sexually abused them.

The two younger girls participated in a forensic interview on July 1. They said that after the 15-year-old went upstairs, everyone fell asleep except Stanworth and the 11-year-old.

The 11-year-old said this was when he touched her inappropriately. When the 13-year-old was interviewed, she stated she had been sexually abused by Stanworth a year before at the same lodge.

According to police reports, Stanworth “kept making references to her that he wanted her to be his best friend.”

One night, Stanworth allegedly told her to sit on his lap on the couch and touched her inappropriately multiple times while not allowing her to get up or leave.

The 13-year-old said she told Stanworth, “if he was going to do that, she was not going to be his best friend.”

She told investigators that the incident “made her feel weird and insecure,” saying that she “had trouble eating after because when she would think about it, it would make her grossed out.”

On July 9, a sergeant with the Bighorn County Sheriff’s Office in Wyoming conducted an interview with Stanworth, who denied any inappropriate touching of children but said “if there was any touching, it wasn’t purposeful.”

On Tuesday, the court filed a deferred prosecution agreement, which is a “voluntary agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant whereby the government offers to dismiss charges upon the defendant’s satisfactory fulfillment of certain requirements (e.g., performing a certain number of community service hours),” according to the Pretrial Services Agency of the District of Columbia.

Teton County Prosecutor Bailey Smith declined to speak specifically about the case but said the exact details of the agreement are sealed from the public.

Stanworth could face up to 75 years in prison if convicted by a judge.

Though Stanworth has been charged with these crimes, this does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.