A woman accused of sexually assaulting much younger members of her drill team has pleaded no contest to four felony counts in a deal with prosecutors in Omaha, Nebraska.
Court records show that 24-year-old Brittianee Bates pleaded no contest Thursday to two counts of first-degree sexual assault and one count each of third-degree sexual assault of a child and intentional child abuse.
Bates doesn’t admit guilty with the plea, but acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict her. In exchange for her pleas, four other felony counts were dropped.
“It saves young victims who are already struggling from going through a trial. Four counts could do the same as eight,” said Brenda Beadle, Deputy Douglas County Attorney.
Police have said Bates sexually assaulted three girls who were on the same drill team as Bates and a fourth girl who went to a day care where Bates worked. Prosecutors say the abuse dates back to 2015 and that all of the victims were younger than 13.
Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine alleged that Bates betrayed her victims’ trust.
“We want to do everything we can to make sure this person doesn’t have the opportunity to hurt anybody else,” he said.
Kleine called the four alleged victims who’d come forward courageous for sharing their accounts with Project Harmony forensic investigators.
Inside the county courthouse, Omaha Police Det. Nicole Walker testified that Bates knew the four victims from either a drill and dance team or a day care where she worked.
“This individual certainly had access to many young people because of the situation they were in on the dance team or drill team,” Kleine said.
Investigators and prosecutors allege that Bates sexually assaulted the girls over several years and addresses across Douglas County.
Prosecutors said some of the victims were inside Bates’ residence or apartment, where she allegedly forced them to engage in sex acts with her and other girls.
According to OPD, another victim reported that Bates touched her breasts. A fourth victim alleged Bates made her get into a shower with her.
Kleine argued that, based on the accusations, Bates violated the victims’ bodies and their trust.
“It’s difficult, I think, sometimes, for a young person who develops some sort of trust with someone, when that trust is violated,” Kleine said, “how they’re going to figure out this situation, or be able to trust other people again.”
Two of the victims said they were touched inappropriately by her during sleepovers. They are all part of the same female drill team. One girl remembers her putting on porn and saying she should do this to the other girls. Another girl said Bates described what they were doing as “playing house.”
According to one of the victims, when they questioned Bates about what was happening, she allegedly told them it was what she did at that age.
“It was at the defendant’s residence,” Kleine said. “She had befriended these younger teammates and the incidents occurred during the night.”
According to court records, some parents had been warning others, alleging this woman was a predator.
Bates faces more than 100 years in prison when she’s sentenced in July.
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