Prosecutor: Charges declined following alleged rape incident

Charges were declined in a case against an 18-year-old man accused of raping a girl in a Cape Girardeau park.

A 16-year-old girl reported to police that she had been raped around 10 p.m. April 11 in Capaha Park, police Sgt. Barry Hovis said at the time.

The girl was with a group of friends in the park when she met up with the man. When her friends left her with the man, he is accused of attacking her, Hovis said.

The police department applied for a warrant, but the Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney's office declined last week to pursue charges, police spokesman Jason Selzer said.

Assistant prosecuting attorney Angel Woodruff said the charges were declined because her office did not have "absolute confidence" the case presented to them would result in a conviction.