Ryan Fitterer Pleads Not Guilty To Sex Crime Charges

A Natrona County man is accused of improperly touching a teenager.

Ryan Fitterer has pleaded not guilty to one charge of second degree sexual abuse of a minor, and one charge of third degree sexual abuse of a minor.

Through a forensic interview with the victim at the Children's Advocacy Project, the Natrona County Sheriff's Office says on one night in June 2015, the victim, who was a friend of the family, stayed overnight at Fitterer's home.

The next morning, Fitterer asked the victim if she wanted to watch a movie with him, to which she agreed and they went into the bedroom where later, the victim said she was inappropriately touched.

When interviewed by the sheriff's office, Fitterer said he and the victim were on the bed watching a movie, when they started tickling each other, but denied touching the victim's personal areas.

He added that he thought of the victim as a daughter, because she had no father figure in her life.

At first, he said he didn't see anything wrong with lying in bed alone with a teenager, but in hindsight, understood that it was inappropriate.

Through a search warrant, the Wyoming State Crime Lab and a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, compared DNA samples taken from the victim's groin area, and from Fitterer himself and found a match.

Fitterer is free on $10,000 bond awaiting trial, and could face up to 20 years in prison on the second degree sexual abuse of a minor charge, and up to 15 years on the third degree sexual abuse of a minor charge if convicted.