WENTWORTH ā Mickey Dale Snow, accused of buying sex with a disabled teenage girl, will face fewer charges after investigators determined there is āinsufficient evidenceā that the alleged victim is āseverely or profoundly mentally disabled.ā
The Rockingham County District Attorneyās Office on Friday dropped 22 charges in 18 indictments against Snow, 77, of 318 Bearslide Court in Eden.
He is scheduled to go on trial next year on charges of advancing prostitution of a minor; promoting prostitution of a minor; patronizing a minor; and two counts each of statutory rape of a person who is 13, 14 or 15 years old, statutory sex offense with a person who is 13, 14, 15 years old and indecent liberties with a child.
Snow is one of four Rockingham County men accused of paying $5 to $20 to Teresa Vanover in exchange for sexual acts with her daughters. Vanover and three of the men have pleaded guilty and are serving sentences in the case.
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The charges prosecutors dismissed are four counts of patronizing a prostitute, four counts of statutory rape or sex offense, four counts of second-degree forcible sexual offense, four counts of patronizing a prostitute, and five counts of promoting the prostitution of a minor.
āWe are glad Mr. Keith and his staff have taken a proactive approach to the investigation and continues to review the previous investigation and that the critical review of evidence is benefiting our client,ā said Chris Clifton, a Winston-Salem-based attorney representing Snow.
These dismissals came after Rockingham County Assistant District Attorney Charlene Coggins-Franks asked for stricter pretrial release conditions against Snow. She had argued that the number and seriousness of the charges pending against Snow should result in more stringent terms.
Snow is out of the Rockingham County jail on $15 million bail. That bail had been reduced earlier this year from the initial $25 million bail he posted after his November 2015 arrest.
Snow had gained attention after he led investigators on an international manhunt before being arrested by the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok, Thailand.
Snow was back in jail this September after a misunderstanding led prosecutors and deputies to believe he had violated the terms of his pretrial release.
Judge Nathaniel Poovey of Catawba County Superior Court told prosecutors that although Snow did not follow the itinerary his attorneys had provided for a medical trip to Florida, he did not violate any of the conditions for his release.
Poovey is presiding over Snowās case, which is scheduled for trial Feb. 19 in Newton. The amount of media attention focused on the case led Snowās defense team to file a motion requesting that the trial be moved out of Rockingham County. Prosecutors signed a consent order last week that moved the trial to Catawba County.
The case began with Teresa Vanover, who told police she forced her older daughter, 15 at the time, to allow sexual acts to be performed on her by prominent men in Eden for money to buy crack cocaine and to pay her husbandās medical expenses.
Eventually, the oldest daughter refused to continue and Vanover said she began to use her younger daughter, then 13. The older daughter alerted police to the abuse in September 2015.
Court records always have referred to the girls as mentally disabled until Friday and cited an investigation and medical evaluations.
Vanover pleaded guilty in May 2016 to 24 charges that she prostituted the girls to pay for her husbandās medical bills and to support her admitted drug habit. She is serving a minimum of 20 years in prison on three of her charges and 61/2 years in prison for her other 45 charges, which will run concurrently with her other sentences.
Thomas āTommyā Woodall, Everett Ferris and Donnie Carter also pleaded guilty and are serving sentences based on a variety of charges.
Woodall pleaded guilty to statutory rape or sex offense with someone over 6 years old, and to abetting prostitution. He is in the Alexander Correctional Institution in Taylorsville, serving a minimum of 16 years and 2 months in prison.
Ferris pleaded guilty to six counts each of patronizing a prostitute and indecent liberties with a child and was sentenced to a minimum of 61/2 years in prison for the first conviction and a minimum of 16 months in prison for the second. The second sentence was suspended, and instead he will serve 36 months on probation.
Carter pleaded guilty to two counts of forcible sex offense, two counts of indecent liberties with a child and one count of patronizing prostitute with severe mental disability. He was sentenced to a minimum of 5 years and 3 months in prison and 36 months of probation.
Snow has maintained his innocence throughout the case.