Illinois man faces charges of rape involving teenager

A 32-year-old carnival worker from Springfield, Ill., was charged Monday with statutory rape, a class C felony, after being arrested Saturday afternoon for having sex with a 15-year-old Cape Girardeau girl at the SEMO District Fair.

Terry Dewayne Wake is in the Cape Girardeau County Jail in lieu of a $75,000 bond.

Wake, who operated the Cliffhanger ride for Astro Amusements at the fair, told authorities that he had first met the girl at the fair Wednesday.

According to the probable cause statement from Keith Green of the police department, the girl first said that as she was leaving the fair around 11:15 p.m. Friday, Wake took her by the arm and took her back to his room at the fairgrounds where he raped her.

Green added that the victim later changed her story and said that she had left the fair at 11:15 p.m., but returned after Wake had called on her cell phone around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

Wake told Green that after the fair closed at 11 p.m., he went to Brothers Lounge. He returned to the fairgrounds and called the girl on her cell phone. The girl claimed that she met Wake at the car wash across from the fairgrounds on East Rodney Street and that he took her to his room at the fair. Wake told police that he had sex with the girl twice in his room, but stated that she had told him she was 18.

The girl told her mother when she returned home that she was at the fair with Wake and that nothing had happened. The girl's mother called police Saturday morning and accused Wake of having raped her daughter.

The girl was taken to the Southeast Missouri Hospital emergency room where a sexual assault kit was completed and taken as evidence. Police searched Wake's room and confiscated clothing as evidence.