A jury trial is scheduled for the second week of the current Pottawatomie County jury term for a Shawnee man facing more than 40 felony charges of sex-related crimes with minors.
Danny Ray Weeks, Jr., 52, was charged in Pottawatomie County District Court on Dec. 15, 2022 with 34 felony counts.
Weeks originally was charged in Lincoln County District Court on Aug. 25, 2022 with five felony charges of lewd or indecent acts to a child, then on Sep. 7, 2022 four more felony charges were filed against him.
Lincoln County District Court records show the state filed a motion to dismiss all nine charges in December, the day after the original34 were filed in Pottawatomie County District Court against him At the conclusion of his preliminary hearing before Special Judge David Cawthon March 3, Weeks was bound over. His arraignment was held on April 19.
He was bound over to stand trial on 41 counts. District Attorney Adam Panter amended the charges on March 10 to include seven additional counts against Weeks.
The additional counts include two for forcible oral sodomy, three for lewd or indecent acts to a child under 16 and two for first degree rape by instrumentation.
Court records show that during his arraignment April 19 he pleaded not guilty. Special Judge David Cawthon set him for the felony disposition docket at 9 a.m. June 29.
Judge Cawthon ordered that Weeks’ $550,000 bond remain. He remains in the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center in Shawnee.
A $550,000 bench warrant was originally issued for his arrest the day the charges were filed. Court records state, too, that once arrested that would be the amount of his bond. It further states he is to have no contact with any person under the age of 18 and no contact with the alleged victims as a condition of the bond.
The original 34 charges include 23 alleging lewd or indecent acts to a child under 16; seven more alleging forcible oral sodomy; one for alleged lewd or indecent proposals to a child; two alleging first degree rape by instrumentation; and one for allegedly engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses.
The alleged crimes reportedly occurred with five different minors.
Prosecutors allege the crimes occurred during several different time periods including from Oct. 12, 2019 to Oct. 11, 2021; Oct. 12, 2019 to Sep. 3, 2022; Aug. 4, 2020 to Aug. 22, 2022; Sep. 18, 2020 to Sep. 17, 2021; Aug. 4, 2021 to Aug. 3, 2022; and Sep. 4, 2021 to Sep. 3, 2022.
Prosecutors also allege that some of the crimes occurred in Lincoln and/or Pottawatomie County, others just in Pottawatomie County and one in Pottawatomie and Lincoln counties.
According to the information filed, officers, detectives and deputies with the Shawnee Police Department and Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office were involved in this investigation along with the One Safe Place Family Justice Center.