Darren Cornell Pleads Not Guilty By Reason Of Mental Illness to Sex Related Charges

A convicted sex offender from Michigan, who had moved to Rawlins, and is accused of re-offending, has entered a plea in court.

Thirty-year old Darren Cornell has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental illness, to one charge of sexual exploitation of children and one charge of third degree sexual abuse of a minor.

Investigators with the Casper Police Department say in April, they were notified about a Facebook post, that Cornell had an unorthodox program, to train young girls in realistic scenarios, on how to thwart a rape attempt.

An undercover officer made contact with Cornell who outlined his teachings, and said he would not have pants on during the lessons and agreed to come to Casper.

He was taken into custody and police learned that he was using a Facebook page under a deceased friends' name, since sex offenders are not allowed to have Facebook pages.

Cornell stated his plan was to help law enforcement, because he believed he could make a difference and if successful, he was going to try to petition to have his name removed from the sex offender registry list.

He then later admitted that he was married, was looking for painful sexual encounters (he would receive the pain), and had no formal self defense training.

Cornell is being held on $150,000 bond awaiting trial, and he could face between five-to-12 years in prison on the sexual exploitation of children charge, and up to 15 years in prison on the third degree sexual abuse of a minor charge if convicted.