SULPHUR, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma man who is legally blind has been sentenced to probation for raping a 13-year-old Texas girl at a church camp, after prosecutors cited his disability in agreeing to a plea deal that spares him prison time. Benjamin Lawrence Petty, 36, tied rope around the girl's wrists, raped her and then threatened her with physical harm if she told anyone, according to the criminal charge. He was at the camp as a cook at the time of the 2016 offense. Murray County Assistant District Attorney David Pyle, who negotiated the guilty plea deal, told NewsOK that Petty is “legally blind” which was a major factor in his decision not to insist on prison time. Petty was given the suspended sentence by District Judge Wallace Coppedge on Jan. 19 after entering a negotiated guilty plea to first-degree rape, forcible sodomy and rape by instrumentation. Last week, Petty, of Spencer, pleaded guilty to the three felonies as part of a plea deal, NewsOK reports. "The big thing is Mr. Petty is legally blind and the parents (of the victim) live out of state and this little girl lives out of state and didn't want to make all the travels back and forth," Pyle said. “The plea was negotiated with their permission.” 
 
 Pyle also said that Petty was legally blind at the time of the rape. Under the terms of his probation, Petty will be required to wear an ankle monitor for 24 months, register as a sex offender and obtain treatment. He had no prior felony convictions, according to plea agreement documents. The girl was raped in June 2016, while attending church camp at Falls Creek with a group from Terrell, Texas, according to court records filed in the civil lawsuit. Last year, the girl’s family filed a civil lawsuit against the church that brought her to the camp from Terrell, Texas, along with County Estates Baptist Church in Midwest City, which brought Petty to the camp, and Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. The Falls Creek church camp is owned and operated by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and is the largest youth camp in the nation.
– Benjamin Petty, a cook at a Baptist church camp in Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to tying up a 13-year-old camper, raping her, sodomizing her, and threatening her if she told anyone, the Oklahoman reports. Despite pleading guilty to three felonies, Petty was sentenced to 15 years probation with no prison time earlier this month. While Petty's attorney says his client "certainly is being punished"—he must wear an ankle monitor for 24 months and register as a sex offender—others find the sentence issued by Judge Wallace Coppedge on Jan. 19 lacking, according to the AP. "Failure to hold perpetrators accountable ... sends the wrong message to victims of crime," says the executive director of the Oklahoma Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Assistant district attorney David Pyle says he didn't push for prison time because of the state of Petty's vision. "The big thing is Mr. Petty is legally blind and the parents (of the victim) live out of state and this little girl lives out of state and didn't want to make all the travels back and forth," he says. "The plea was negotiated with their permission." The victim's family has filed a civil suit against three churches involved in the camp—the largest youth camp in the US—alleging they didn't run background checks, KFOR reports. In the civil case, one of the churches is pushing for the victim's "prior history of voluntary sexual activity" to be introduced. An attorney for the victim says they "are saddened to see that the church has stooped to victim-blaming."