Man charged with raping a 13-year-old pleads guilty, but avoids prison sentence

A Macon man charged with raping a 13-year-old girl pleaded guilty to statutory rape Monday and avoided a potential prison sentence.

Tremayne Octavious Driskell Jr., 21, initially was charged with rape and child molestation. As part of his plea bargain, he was sentenced to five years on probation and the molestation charges will be dismissed.

Driskell was visiting a home on New Clinton Road in mid-February 2016 when he allegedly went into the girl’s bedroom, forced her to have sex and told her “not to tell anyone because he didn’t want to go to jail,” according to an arrest warrant in the case.

The girl didn’t tell anyone what had happened until a couple months later, prosecutor Dorothy Hull said.

Driskell, who would have presented conflicting evidence if the case had gone to trial, was 19 years old at the time, his attorney, Catherine Whitworth, said during the plea hearing in Bibb County Superior Court.

He’d never been in trouble before his June 2016 arrest, and he had been making plans to enlist in the Army, she said.

Driskell, sentenced as a first offender, also must pay a $500 fine and $500 in attorney’s fees.

This story was originally published June 26, 2017 at 12:45 PM with the headline "Man charged with raping a 13-year-old pleads guilty, but avoids prison sentence."