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Rape charge amended

RALPH BARTHOLDT | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 11 months AGO
by RALPH BARTHOLDT
Staff Writer | February 21, 2020 1:00 AM

A rape charge was amended against a 21-year-old McDonald’s worker who pleaded guilty to statutory rape and two other felonies Thursday in Coeur d’Alene.

Nathan T. Granger entered the pleas that were part of an agreement to dismiss another felony.

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss one count of forcible penetration by use of foreign object, in exchange for Granger’s guilty pleas to the statutory rape, lewd conduct with a minor and possessing child porn.

Granger was accused of raping at least one teenage girl. He was arrested at McDonald’s in September after a 4 a.m. conversation with Coeur d’Alene police, which his attorney called an interrogation because she said police had not given Granger a Miranda warning and he had no attorney present.

A Coeur d’Alene judge ruled out the accusation and ruled instead that Granger was not coerced or threatened. He voluntarily gave up information and, eventually, a confession before his arrest, Judge Cynthia K.C. Meyer said.

Police said the 16-year-old victim reported the rape four days after it happened. Granger allegedly twice had sex with the teenager at his residence on the 200 block of Shelby Lane in Coeur d’Alene, according to a police report.

His attorney said the rape charge was unfounded.

“This is not a violent stranger,” she said. “The charges are being very zealously challenged.”

The plea agreement allows his attorney and prosecutors to argue for an appropriate sentence.

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