When he was just 13-years-old, the victim of Byrnes Mill officer Ryan Shomaker was raped. The abuse would last years as the boy transitioned from a middle school student to high school, and this week, after attempting to seek justice for years, this abused boy found out that his rapist will not be going to jail.
Shomaker, 48, admitted to the abuse and pleaded guilty to second-degree sodomy, not once, but twice. On Dec 2 in Jefferson County, and on Nov. 22 in St. Louis County, Shomaker admitted to the crimes against this boy.
In Jefferson County, Shomaker was charged with first-degree statutory sodomy, an unclassified felony punishable by five years to life in prison, and in St. Louis County he was charged with two counts of sodomy. However, he was allowed to plea down to one count each of second-degree sodomy.
As the Leader reports, on Dec. 2, Jefferson County Div. 5 Circuit Judge Victor Melenbrink sentenced Shomaker to seven years in prison in the Jefferson County case, and St. Louis County Circuit Judge Joseph Dueker sentenced Shomaker to seven years in the St. Louis County case.
Despite these sentences, after the fact, Shomaker’s sentences were both suspended and this child rapist was given just 5 years probation.
Shomaker’s attorney called the lack of jail for the child rapist, “a fair outcome.”
“It was a negotiated resolution with both counties,” Joseph Wayne Flees II said according to the Leader. “We feel it addresses some of the potential concerns the state may have had in the case with their victim. It is essentially a fair outcome.”
According to court documents, Shomaker met his victim on an app in 2014 when he was just 13. The abuse continued for the next four years until the victim worked up enough courage to come forward.
After the victim came forward, Shomaker “separated” from the Byrnes Mill Police Department on Oct. 31, 2018. His case has been moving through the courts ever since.
The reason Shomaker was charged in two different counties was due to the fact that the abuse took place in multiple jurisdictions. According to the probable-cause statement, the victim told a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputy that Shomaker sexually molested him multiple times during his juvenile years, “at least two of which were within the Jefferson County jurisdiction.”
The first time they met, the boy was taken back to Shomaker’s home where he was sodomized by the officer, according to court documents. Just three days later, Shomaker found the boy again, where he was taken to a parking lot in House Springs, where Shomaker abused the child again.
This pattern unfolded for years and despite text messages proving that Shomaker knew he was doing this to a child, this monster will not be going to jail.
By Matt Agorist, Guest writer
