Man pleads guilty to nine counts in West Willow sexual assault case
Daniel Jackson
The man who put Ypsilanti Township’s West Willow area on high alert in May pleaded guilty in the Washtenaw County Trial Court Monday to nine sexual assault-related counts.
Daniel Bernard Jackson, 26, will spend at least four years in prison per a sentencing agreement with the court, but could get up to 15 years. Four of the 13 charges he faced will be dismissed when he is sentenced at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 10.
Jackson recounted a few details about the attacks on the three girls that occurred on May 9.
“I went up behind her and grabbed her,” he told the court about one of the incidents. “Before I could touch her, she ran away.”
AnnArbor.com previously reported a 17-year-old girl was approached by a man on a bike as she walked to her school bus stop around 7 a.m. May 9 near Chevrolet Street and Studebaker Avenue.
As police were investigating that report, an 11-year-old girl told police a man matching the same description groped her chest before fleeing. Police soon received yet another call about a man with the same description attempting to abduct a different 11-year-old girl near Nash Avenue and Dodge Court.
Willow Run Community Schools went on high alert and took precautions to make sure children could safely walk to and from school. Jackson was taken into custody a day after the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office released a wanted poster featuring a picture taken by security cameras.
A day after police questioned him, Jackson was placed under arrest and was soon charged with the 13 counts.
A fourth incident was revealed in court. Jackson pleaded guilty to not just the sexual assault on the three girls May 9, but also to an assault on a female April 16 at the Lakeshore Apartments in Ypsilanti Township.
Jackson said he “held her” and “touched her breasts.”
In total, Jackson pleaded guilty to four charges of unlawful imprisonment, four charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one charge of interfering with the reporting of a crime.
Two counts each of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and fourth-degree sexual conduct will be dismissed at the time of sentencing because they were duplicate charges.
John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
Sue
Sat, Sep 1, 2012 : 4:30 p.m.
Why dismiss any of the charges? He should have to serve the time for each and every attack, back to back. Hopefully he has to serve the full 15 years.
Goodphotographer
Wed, Aug 22, 2012 : 5:09 p.m.
People who commit crimes against children are the lowest life form on the planet.
Billy Bob Schwartz
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 3:55 p.m.
Creepy guy. Throw away the key. I can't imagine the way the parents of these girls feel, not to mention the girls themselves. I'm just glad they broke away from him. As I said, throw away the key.
chefsgirl
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 2:37 p.m.
I wish sex offenders glowed in the dark.
Goodphotographer
Wed, Aug 22, 2012 : 4:20 p.m.
Get night sights.
TrappedinMI
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 2:22 p.m.
Only four years? These crimes are creepy beyond compare!!! We need longer sentencing plus psychological help for this type of sex crime!
Peter
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 2:02 p.m.
This guy could get as little as 4 years??? Even the max at 15 is not enough.
Davidian
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 11:28 a.m.
Swift justice for an animal that hopefully will spend all 15 years behind bars. I mean - what kind of person has so little self control that they ride around on bikes in broad daylight and sexually assault their neighbors, who are children? We know these people can't be cured. It's a shame that we have to release them at all. Hopefully he will experience the worst that prison has to offer and we won't have to worry about it.
Sue
Sat, Sep 1, 2012 : 4:26 p.m.
Cathy, it was insinuated when he said "hopefully he will experience the worst that prison has to offer". Everyone knows what the worst that prison has to offer is. Prisoners will do this when they have life sentences with no parole and nothing else to lose. Personally I think those caught raping someone in prison should be placed permanently in a separate area away from the other inmates where they can have at it with one another to their evil hearts content.
Cathy
Wed, Aug 22, 2012 : 10:33 p.m.
"When society accepts that prisoners should be subjected to repeated violent rapes while in state custody, can we expect that the prisoners assimilation into society upon release? And if society thinks the proper punishment for groping is a years of violent rape, then how about a good old fashioned legislative debate or referendum rather that letting other prisoners decide who gets raped?" Is it just me, or does the original comment make NO reference to rape?
a2citizen
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 2:53 p.m.
ordmad: our incarceration rate would be a lot lower if we practiced Sharia, especially in these types of cases.
ordmad
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 1 p.m.
@Davidian: "we know these people can't be cured.". Really? Who is the we? Where is the evidence? What's your degree in? Fact is that this man is sick and needs help and, yes, punishment. It is precisely your lock them away and lose they key that gives us the highest rate of incarceration among developed nations in the world.
no flamers!
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 12:24 p.m.
When society accepts that prisoners should be subjected to repeated violent rapes while in state custody, can we expect that the prisoners assimilation into society upon release? And if society thinks the proper punishment for groping is a years of violent rape, then how about a good old fashioned legislative debate or referendum rather that letting other prisoners decide who gets raped?