A Chattanooga man charged with five counts of child rape and numerous other related crimes was allowed to plead guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual battery on Tuesday, because the family of the two victims would not cooperate with prosecutors.
Brian Keith Williams, 40, was sentenced to seven years in prison under the terms of his agreement with prosecutors.
Initially, Williams was charged with five counts of child rape, two counts of aggravated sexual battery, two counts of incest and one count of attempted child rape.
But the mother of the two 12-year-olds told prosecutors she did not want the boys to be questioned about what happened or to testify at Williams’ trial because she did not want them to have to relive the abuse.
Prosecutor Leslie Longshore said Williams will have to register as a sex offender and will be monitored for the rest of his life.
Williams’ trial, originally set to begin Oct. 3 before Criminal Court Judge Don Poole, had to be postponed because the mother of the victims would not allow prosecutors to talk with her children.
At that time, the judge warned the woman he would hold her in contempt of court if she did not make the boys available.
The charges against Williams grew out of a 2004 incident in which Williams and two boys, then 10 years old, reported playing “games” such as “truth or dare.”
During a hearing that year before General Sessions Court Judge Mike Carter, Chattanooga police detective Kevin Atkins said Williams originally denied the allegations.
“Then he changed his story,” Detective Atkins testified. “He began crying and said, ‘I did everything they said I did.’”
He said Williams provided a variety of accounts of his interactions with the two boys, including one in which he said he saw the boys having sex with each other and another in which they accidentally saw him touching himself.
Following that hearing, Judge Carter bound the case over to the grand jury, which later indicted Williams on multiple counts of child rape.