Boise man accused of assaulting girls at Roaring Springs. He took a plea deal
Almost a year after a man was accused of illegally touching children and young women at Roaring Springs Waterpark in Meridian, the Boise resident pleaded guilty to one of the several charges against him.
Bo Gene Crisp, 41, entered an Alford plea last month to a single felony count of sexual battery of a teenage girl through a plea agreement with the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office, according to court filings obtained by the Idaho Statesman.
Two other charges will be dismissed as part of the deal, but the prosecution will be able to use evidence of the other alleged crimes during their sentencing arguments.
Crisp will face sentencing at 2:30 p.m. July 2 at the Ada County Courthouse, where the presiding judge could send him to prison for up to 25 years, court filings showed. He could also face up to a $50,000 fine.
Senior Judge Michael Reardon, of Idaho’s 4th Judicial District, initially said he wasn’t inclined to grant Crisp’s Alford plea, given the nature of the case. An Alford plea carries the same weight as a guilty plea, but the defendant does not admit guilt, only that there’s enough evidence to convict them.
Reardon, after some discussion with the defense, accepted the plea with the understanding that Crisp was intoxicated during the incident and didn’t remember touching anyone — but he’d reviewed surveillance footage from the incident and acknowledged that he’d likely be found guilty if the case went to trial.
Idaho News 6 first reported on the plea deal.
Meridian Police Department officers arrested Crisp last summer after staff at the water park off of Overland Road were alerted by guests of someone “acting inappropriately towards others” in the wave pool, according to a news release from Roaring Springs.
Officers believed at the time that two girls, one 13 years old and the other 16, were victimized by Crisp, according to police, who warned that others could have been assaulted.
Crisp swam up to over a dozen people in the wave pool that day and placed his hands on their buttocks, according to Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Brittany Ford, who was referring to surveillance footage reviewed by law enforcement.
Given the number and type of victims — young females — Crisp intended to “arouse, appeal or gratify” his own lust or sexual desire, Ford argued in court last month. Reardon agreed.
Crisp was initially indicted on three charges, with an Ada County grand jury returning two felony indictments — counts of sexual abuse of the 13-year-old and sexual battery of the 16-year-old — along with a misdemeanor count of xexual battery of an adult.
Prosecutors also hoped to charge Crisp with a third felony for the attempted sexual abuse of another 13-year-old girl, but the grand jury didn’t indict him on that count, the Statesman previously reported.
