Two people accused of rape in Lake of the Ozarks area sentenced for drug charges; due back in court in January for rape charges
CALIFORNIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Two people who are accused of rape pleaded guilty to drug charges on Tuesday at the Miller County Courthouse.
Carl Mort -- 44, of Shawnee Mission, Kansas -- and Cassandra Wedeking -- 40, of Overland Park, Kansas -- were sentenced to five years of supervised probation with a suspended sentence up to seven years in the Department of Corrections after pleading guilty for possession of a controlled substance.
The pair was initially charged in 2020 with rape, sodomy, drug possession and other crimes in Morgan County. A change of venue brought the case to Miller County in September 2020.
According to a probable cause statement, a woman told investigators that Mort and Wedeking met at a bar on the lake in July 2019. The couple took her to another location, offered her cocaine and raped her on a boat that was docked, the statement says. Mort and Wedeking told investigators the sex was consensual.
The two denied having drugs but investigators say they found cocaine and ecstasy during a search.
The victim said at the time the two introduced themselves as brother and sister but both of them took part in the rape, according to the documents.
The patrol said in a news release that the arrests and charges "were the result of an ongoing investigation encompassing the entire Lake of the Ozarks region, including Camden, Miller and Morgan counties."
The pair are also charged in another rape case in Moniteau County. They are each charged with two counts of first-degree rape. A pretrial conference is set for 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 27, 2023, at the Moniteau County Courthouse. A jury trial is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, March 6.
A third person accused in the 2019 case -- Jeremy Robinson, 45, of Olathe, Kansas -- has a pretrial conference set for 9 a.m. Friday at the Moniteau County Courthouse.
Robinson is charged with second-degree rape and first-degree sodomy. A jury trial is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 23. A change of venue brought the case from Morgan County to Moniteau County.
On Aug. 2, 2020, Robinson was court-ordered to provide a DNA swab. More than two weeks later Robinson's DNA matched a sample taken from the woman's sexual assault kit, the document said.
Deputies said Robinson admitted to "wandering around" and looking for Mort and Wedeking the night of the suspected sexual assault. The probable cause said Robinson boarded Mort's boat but did not go inside.
