712 Digital Group - top

Ex-Four Oaks youth counselor pleads guilty to sex abuse

News

March 19th, 2021 by Ric Hanson

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A former Four Oaks youth counselor has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing and exploiting a 14-year-old boy in 2018. The Gazette reports that 29-year-old Danielle Hook entered a written plea Thursday to amended charges of third-degree sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist. As part of a deal with prosecutors, a charge of harboring a runaway will be dismissed.

Prosecutors also agreed to recommend lifetime probation for Hook when she’s sentenced May 18. Her convictions on the two counts together carry a possible sentence of up to 15 years in prison. The judge who accepted her plea Thursday ordered her to register as a sex offender for 10 years.