GRAND RAPIDS — After Lee Craddock and an adult female relative were held at gunpoint along a rural road, they told police an appalling tale: They were ordered into the woods near Kent City and forced to have sex while their attacker watched.

The allegations last April led to the arrest of Jeremy Gentz, a Kent City man who resembled an artist’s rendering of the suspect.

But the investigation has taken a more sinister turn.

Authorities now say Craddock, a convicted sex offender, set up the gunman scenario near 20 Mile Road and Red Pine Avenue NW to sexually assault the young woman, who does not live in his household.

And Gentz — who was jailed as a suspect for four months on a string of felony charges — has been cleared of any wrongdoing and released from jail. His lawyer said investigators have obtained a confession from the real gunman, who has not yet been charged.

As the case winds through Kent County courts, questions remain, such as how Gentz was ever fingered for the crime in the first place.

Gentz’s attorney says the 31-year-old man was jailed after the female victim picked his picture out of a photo lineup, and Gentz was kept behind bars even after Craddock was charged with orchestrating the crime.

“It’s truly bizarre and it’s particularly sad that Jeremy sat in jail with absolutely no corroborating evidence that he was involved or had any connection to this,” said Jeffrey West, the defense attorney. “There was nothing more than a sketch and an incorrect identification.

“I’m not sure where the flaw in the procedure was, but it’s clear that it wasn’t handled appropriately.”

Craddock and the sex-assault victim told police they were riding on his motorcycle when they were flagged down by a man standing along 20 Mile Road.

At the time, the two were traveling to a house where the victim was considering moving.

The man pulled a gun and demanded Craddock and the victim enter the woods and engage in intercourse while he watched.

The victim, at a hearing last summer, testified she said she would rather be shot than follow through with the order, but said Craddock exhorted her to comply because he didn’t want to see her hurt.

The gun-toting man disappeared, and she pushed her 52-year-old relative off her, she said in court.

Following the alleged assault, the victim and Craddock worked with officers to develop a suspect sketch, which then was distributed to authorities.

Police identified Gentz, who was arrested in July and jailed until last week, because he fit the alleged gunman’s description and lived in Kent City. The victim also identified him as the suspect when she was presented six photos of the possible gunman.

Authorities, as recently as Nov. 17, continued prosecuting Gentz, including fighting West’s attempt to have an expert witness testify at trial about problems with witness identifications.

That was despite Craddock’s arrest more than a month earlier for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, conspiracy to commit a sex offense and being a habitual offender.

Craddock allegedly told the woman not to call police after the April crime, gave inconsistent statements to detectives and refused a polygraph, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. He also drove 2 miles past the house he and the relative were to visit.

“Based on Lee Craddock’s deliberate action to place himself and (the victim) at the scene of the crime ... investigators believe Lee conspired to commit criminal sexual conduct,” state police Sgt. Denise Bentley wrote in court records.

Craddock is expected to stand trial on the charges next year. He remains in the Kent County Jail.

Neither Bentley nor Gentz nor the female victim could be reached for comment.

Kent County Assistant Prosecutor James Benison confirmed Gentz is no longer a subject of the investigation. No other arrests have been made, he said.

State police records show Craddock has sex assault convictions from 1978 and 1995. The Alpine Township man served 12 years in prison for the 1995 attack, records show.

West, Gentz’s lawyer, said Craddock’s arrest was never disclosed to him.

Gentz had been charged with a sex offense, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, carrying a concealed weapon and using a gun during a felony.

“These were very aggressive charges considering the lack of information outside of the complaining witnesses, one of whom was involved, as it turns out,” West said.

“The truth does come out, but there are innocent victims in the process.”

E-mail Nate Reens: nreens@grpress.com