Teen will avoid jail time for rape at Kent private school

KENT — A 19-year-old man charged with raping a 14-year-old girl in a private boarding-school classroom took a plea deal last week that has him avoiding jail time.

Samuel Jacob Thomas Elder — Jake Elder, according to court documents — plead guilty to felony risk of injury to a child Friday, but the felony second-degree sexual assault charge he faced for raping a teenage girl at the Marvelwood School last February will be dropped on Feb. 17, his next day in court. Instead of jail, he’ll likely be put on probation for five years, with a 10-year suspended sentence.

According to court documents, Elder and the girl went to the school’s Spanish classroom to “make out,” and when the girl declined to have sex with Elder, police say he told her, “well, you’re gonna have to,” and forced himself on her.

Elder only stopped after she screamed “stop,” police said. Then Elder pulled up his pants, grabbed his coat and left the room “without saying another word,” documents said.

The victim then ran and told a friend and school officials, and called her parents. Upon investigation, police found a used condom, with Elder and the victim’s DNA, stashed in a classroom heating vent.

Elder, of Gainesville, Fla., was arrested last May and held in lieu of a $100,000 bond. Before he took the plea deal, his bond had been lowered to $25,000 and he was released.

blytton@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3411; @bglytton