Desmond Triplett Of Natrona County Sentenced For Sex Crimes
A Natrona County man will be spending time behind bars after he was convicted of sex crimes.
Desmond Triplett was sentenced to 26-to-30 years in prison, after a jury found him guilty on one charge of immoral acts with a minor, as well as three counts of second degree sexual abuse of a minor.
Natrona County prosecutors said back in 1976, the then 15-year old victim/accuser, claimed to have gotten pregnant with Desmond Triplett’s child, and Triplett devised a plan for her to get an abortion in Colorado.
She claimed he also helped her run away to Triplett’s family in Iowa where she briefly changed her ID and appearance, but she eventually came home.
The relationship continued, and the victim/accuser claims when she was 16, Triplett altered her birth certificate, so they could get married.
They went to Douglas and the county official issuing the marriage license never checked for age.
She got pregnant again via Triplett, and eventually got a divorce.
Another victim/accuser claimed around 2010-2011, Triplett provided her many things such as food, clothing and Wicca books, and Triplett performed oral sex on her a number of times, as part as a Wicca initiation.
At some point, she became interested in people around her age, and he started to threaten her.
In 2013 when she turned 16, she revealed what was going on.
At the sentencing hearing, Triplett as well as some members of his family, raised issues as to how he could be convicted of something, when there was no physical evidence, plus why did the accusations come out more than 40 years after they occurred.
They maintained that the accusations are false.
Triplett was found not guilty on two separate charges of immoral acts with a minor, in which he was accused of providing alcohol in exchange for sex, to two then 14-year old girls.
His actual sentence is eight-to-10 years in prison for immoral acts with a minor, followed by an additional 18-20 years for the third degree sexual abuse of a minor charges.
The sentences for the third degree sexual abuse of a minor charges, will run concurrent or at the same time.