Austin Barelle Of Casper Pleads Guilty To Sex Crimes

A Casper man has admitted to having sexual encounters with an underage girl.

Austin Barelle has pleaded guilty to two counts of second degree sexual abuse of a minor (three other counts were dismissed).

Investigators with the Casper Police Department say in February, a High School supervisor was reviewing the contents of an IPad and observed sexually explicit messages with various men ranging from teenage to adult in years, with Barelle being one of them.

Police later talked to several underaged females who said they had been in a sexual relationship with Barelle, between November 2015 and January 2016.

When detectives contacted Barelle about the accusations, he advised he knew why they were calling, declined to appear for an interview and stated he was going to seek legal counsel.

As part of a plea deal, prosecutors will seek no more than a seven-to-10 year prison sentence with a boot camp recommendation.

If Barelle completes boot camp, the court could call him back for a sentence review.

He is being held on $25,000 bond, and will be sentenced at a later date.