Mother who allowed boyfriend to rape her daughter pleads guilty

Williamsport, Pennsylvania – A mother who allowed her boyfriend to sexually abuse her young daughter pleaded guilty in court last week.

Michelle Renae Strayer described the abuse in detail during her boyfriend’s trial in October, saying she witnessed Marcus Drake McDaniel abusing the child for a year when she was six years old.

On Friday, Strayer, 35, pleaded guilty to five felony counts and one misdemeanor count.

Strayer claimed she and McDaniel were in the grip of a drug spree when she gave in to his demands. McDaniel told her his morals were “different than other people’s” when he asked her about child abuse.

“He wanted her physically,” Strayer said on the witness stand at the Lycoming County Courthouse last year. “I allowed it.”

Strayer described staying awake with McDaniel for five days, taking drugs, before giving in to his demands. McDaniel woke the child before removing her clothes in his bedroom while Strayer watched. During her testimony, Strayer admitted to sitting in bed with the child during the abuse. She spoke of washing her child and promising it would never happen again. However, the abuse continued.

Strayer publicly pleaded guilty to attempted rape of a child, sexual exploitation of a child, unauthorized contact with a minor, endangering the welfare of a child and obstructing justice. She will be sentenced in November.

McDaniel was found guilty of 11 counts, including rape of a child, at a trial last year and sentenced to several years in a state reformatory.

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