After a careful, line-by-line reading, a Gary man described as mentally disabled has accepted a plea agreement for molesting a preteen girl two years ago.
On December 21, Lake County Superior Judge Salvador Vasquez will sentence Cottreal D. Haney, 43, who was charged with sexually assaulting the girl three different times between October 2020 and January 2021. He was initially charged with Level 1 Child Molesting and Level 4 Child Molesting.
In his plea agreement, Haney pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the Level 4 felony charge, which carries a sentence range of between two and 12 years, with an advisory sentence of six years, according to court documents. Haney’s defense attorney, Lakeisha Murdaugh, and Vasquez went through the agreement with him deliberately and slowly so that Haney understood the agreement.
The girl told police Haney touched her inappropriately while visiting a house in which Haney was living between October 2020 and January 2021. When she told relatives what he did, they confronted him, and he threatened to kill himself and told them “The devil made me do it,” court documents said.
In three separate evaluations, Haney was declared unfit for trial, Murdaugh said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
