CRAWFORD CO.—Many Robinson-area parents are understandably upset at the light sentence former school custodian Danny Bonnell has received over his felony charge dating back to December.
Bonnell, 27, was sentenced yesterday (Thursday, February 27, 2013) in an October 2012 felony Unauthorized Videotaping count (class 4). The charge alleged that Bonnell “knowingly made a video record of a person without the consent of that person,” knowing and while that person was in a locker room at Robinson High School.
It was never revealed who the “person” was; however, a recording device (camera of some sort) was located secreted in the wall of the girl’s locker room at RHS, and it was discovered to have been placed there by Bonnell. Examination of the camera as well as Bonnell’s computers was done, but nothing was said about any images retrieved from these.
This locker room was reportedly a changing area for girls’ sports teams, including those from away games coming to Robinson.
Danny Bonnell
On a previously-set pretrial conference the 27th, Bonnell opted to enter a plea to the felony, and received 24 months’ probation (as a first-time offender; the court had nothing in his record to hold against him); a 60-day jail sentence in force along with a 120-day jail sentence stayed (we’re not sure what that means, but that’s part of the sentence; likely he spent some time in jail and gets credit for that, and the 120-day sentence will be hung over his head for the duration of his probationary period, as a deterrent to doing anything “bad”); and most importantly, fines and fees of $1,472, of which he’s paid none.
Bonnell was able to post bond on Oct. 23 after the Oct. 12 arrest.
Parents are mostly disturbed by the fact that Bonnell doesn’t have to register as a sex offender, even though that’s apparently what he was after: pornographic-type photos of girls, most if not all of them underage. However, while the unauthorized videotaping charge has that option, a secondary charge of such pornography would have had to have been filed, and apparently no pornographic images were discovered. So Bonnell has escaped that portion of the law as it exists, and does not have to register as a sex offender, as he isn’t one—as far as we can ascertain with the information available to us. If that changes, we’ll have the update in the print version, on stands in less than a week; be sure to pick one up at our Crawford County vendors, or get yourself an online membership by subscribing to our e-Edition.