Report: Prosecutor sentenced to 18 months for raping teen boy

DOVER, Del. -- A former criminal prosecutor has been sentenced to 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to raping a 16-year-old boy during a threesome with a college student, USA Today reports. 

Daniel Simmons made a tearful apology to the court, and the people of Delaware, Tuesday during his sentencing for fourth-degree rape.

Though the crime is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, Simmons worked out a plea deal with the Delaware Attorney General's Office, dropping three other fourth-degree rape counts.

According to USA Today, Simmons raped the boy during a three way with a 24-year-old college student at his home in 2014.

Analysis by the USA Today newspaper found that of 15 other defendants convicted of a single count of fourth-degree rape in Delaware since 2008, one has avoided jail time, and the sentencing has ranged from two weeks to four years. During sentencing, the judge noted that Simmons was more than twice the victim's age and saw the victim "as an object," the judge said.

Simmons apologized to the courtroom during the sentencing, saying that he spent years trying to suppress his sexuality and live as a born-again Christian and be attracted to women. Simmons reportedly told the courtroom that he was a virgin until the age of 28 and afterward "felt" he had missed out on a decade of sexual encounters. The fear of missing out led him to a threeway with the boy and the young college man, Simmons said.

Simmons admitted that though the boy wasn't forced to participate, he put him in a compromising situation.

"I apologize to the people of Delaware," Simmons said. "It was a great pleasure to serve you all as a deputy attorney general for seven and a half years. I deeply regret the terrible decision that abruptly ended that service."