DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped charges against a teenager accused of sexually abusing a mentally disabled woman in suburban Des Moines whom he met online.
The case against Nicholas Fifield was dismissed Tuesday with prejudice, which means the charges can’t be refiled. A judge rejected an earlier plea deal.
A criminal complaint says Fifield, then a 17-year-old high school student, met the 18-year-old woman online and took her on a date in December 2015. The complaint says they went to his house and had sex, even though the woman said “no” several times.
The motion to dismiss says the woman’s parents asked that the case be dropped. The motion also says the woman can’t help prosecutors because of her “mental health diagnosis and attendant condition.”