A Riverton man is accused of offering rides at separate times to two women who had to walk for transportation, then sexually attacking each of them in his truck.
Charles Joseph Lawrence, 53, could face up to 35 years in prison if convicted of the second-degree sexual assault and third-degree sexual assault charges he faces in Fremont County District Court. His case rose to the felony-level court Tuesday, and an arraignment is set for Sept. 3.
The investigation started March 14, 2023, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed in the case.
Riverton Police Department Officer Christian Amos went to a Riverton restaurant to talk to a woman, who is now about 22, about an alleged sexual attack by an older man.
The woman said she was walking to work that afternoon when an older male driving a black pickup near the drive-through area of a local bank asked if she wanted a ride.
She accepted the ride, but along the way, the man allegedly asked the woman to lift up her shirt to expose her breast.
She said no, the woman told Amos later.
The man then stopped near another restaurant to let the woman out of the truck, but first he groped her breast without her consent.
Amos caught up with this woman a year later, March 17, 2024, at the Fremont County Detention Center where she was then confined.
She identified Lawrence from a photo lineup of six people via a photo Amos had reportedly taken from Lawrence’s Facebook page.
It Continues
On Jan. 30, Amos responded to a probation and parole officer reporting a sexual assault on behalf of a another woman whose probation she was overseeing, according to the affidavit.
The woman, who is now about 43, told Amos that three weeks prior on Jan. 9, she was out walking home from a visit with her probation agent because her sister couldn’t give her a ride. The sister was stuck at the dentist’s office, the woman said.
So the woman started walking home, when an older man pulled up to where she was in a black Chevy Silverado truck and offered her a ride.
She agreed, sat in the front passenger seat and gave the man directions to her apartment, the affidavit says.
But he reportedly rolled past her apartment and took her toward the rural Cooper Road, which turns to dirt and curves along a disjointed patch of the Wind River Indian Reservation before leading back to Riverton’s cemetery and main highway.
She protested, and he allegedly said, “Yeah, but we’re going for a ride.”
The Escape
The man kept making comments about the woman having “beautiful” breasts and offered her alcohol, the affidavit relates.
The document says he “forced himself” on her and penetrated her with his fingers as she pleaded with him to stop, then lifted her shirt and placing his mouth on her breast. She “shut down” and shook in fear, says the affidavit.
The woman told the man she needed a bottle of alcohol to help her calm down, then they could do whatever he wanted, reportedly. But it was a ploy to escape.
He took her to a convenience store in town and he left the truck. She also fled the truck, rushed into the convenience store and hid in the cooler, distraught. A male worker asked her what was going on and she told him, says the affidavit.
Amos went to the convenience store during his investigation and followed up with the manager and assistant manager, who confirmed that the woman told them of the sexual attack. They both reportedly saw her enter the store distraught and crying that day.
The manager consoled her, and both of the workers wanted to report the incident to law enforcement, but the woman urged them against it at the time, the document says.
The assistant manager walked outside to get the man’s license plate number, but by then he’d driven away, the document says.
The Video Footage
The manager let Amos review video from the day. The video reportedly revealed the truck, its license plate number and its stop in the parking lot. The truck parked near the tire air pressure machine just as the woman had described prior, says the affidavit.
Amos also noticed the woman crying and walking into the cooler, with the manager in tow.
But the cameras caught more than the workers, tracking the truck south on North Federal Boulevard then to the Sutherlands parking lot next to a Taco Bell restaurant.
Amos came to Lawrence’s home in Fremont County and interviewed him Feb. 6. Lawrence admitted giving a woman a ride to the convenience store Jan. 9, and admitted that the pair had sexual contact, but he denied that it was non-consensual.
He said he left her at the store when she didn’t come outside, the document says.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
