photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Ernest Fredrick Ingram

An Ottawa man accused of raping a 13-year-old in Douglas County after providing her with alcohol took a plea agreement on Wednesday, according to court records.

Ernest Fredrick Ingram II, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of rape and one felony count of furnishing alcohol to a minor for illicit purposes, according to a news release Thursday from the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office. The release said Ingram could face up to 274 months in prison, or more than 22 years, for those offenses.

Prior to the plea deal, Ingram was specifically charged with rape of a person under age 14, according to charging documents. That is an off-grid felony that could have carried a life sentence; the plea agreement changed the rape charge to a lower-severity felony. Ingram’s original charges also included a felony count of furnishing alcohol to a minor with illicit purposes and a misdemeanor count of furnishing alcohol to a minor, according to charging documents.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred between Sept. 20 and Sept. 22, 2021, in the 400 block of North Street in Lawrence. According to a police affidavit in support of Ingram’s arrest, Ingram met a 20-year-old woman on an online dating app and went to her residence. The affidavit said that Ingram, the woman and a 13-year-old girl in the residence played video games together and drank beer that Ingram had brought, and that Ingram sent the girl messages on Snapchat that he was “horny.” The affidavit alleged that Ingram had sex with the 20-year-old that night and then went to the bedroom of the 13-year-old and had sex with her. He told police he thought the girl was 16, according to the affidavit.

Ingram was first booked into the Douglas County Jail on June 7, 2022, and has been in custody since then with a bond amount of $150,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 8, 2023.