A Maryville, MO. man accused of raping a 14-year-old when he was 17-year-old was charged with a misdemeanor child endangerment charge.
According to The Associated Press, the charge was filed against now 19-year-old Matt Barnett on Thursday, and will be arraigned in the afternoon. Special prosecutor Jean Peters Baker was assigned to re-examine the sexual assault allegations Daisy Coleman brought up to the police against Barnett, stemming from a January 2012 house party. Barnett, a popular high school football player at the time, claimed the sex was consensual.
The names of alleged victims of sexual assault are normally not released to the public, but Coleman and her family have publicly spoken out about their experiences in Maryville, MO. According to multiple reports, Coleman has been be the target of bullying on social media sites, has been threatened by Maryville resident and her family was driven out of their home after she had accuse Barnett of raping her.
"Melinda Coleman [Daisy's mother] says authorities didn't do enough to push the investigation forward, and she has alleged that [Nodaway County prosecutor Robert Rice's] decision to drop the case was politically motivated - Barnett's grandfather was a four-term Missouri state representative who was a state trooper for 32 years. Rice has denied the accusation," AP reports.
National media became involved after vigilante group Anonymous threatened to expose the "truth" of the Maryville case. According to multiple reports, an alleged video recording of Coleman's alleged rape was passed around the high school soon after the incident.
Coleman was hospitalized on Sunday after an apparent suicide attempt, according to FOX 4 News. Coleman's mother told FOX her daughter was bullied on Twitter after word got out she was attending a party on Saturday night.
"Where is anonymous now? My daughter has been terrorized to the point she tried to kill herself last night," Coleman's mother wrote on her Facebook page. "She may never be ok. Where are you and your super hacking skills and internet help now.......we really need them."
