The District Attorney for the 13th Judicial District has informed the Department of Safety and Homeland Security that former state trooper Wade Williams pleaded guilty recently to five criminal counts stemming from a sexual assault investigation.

Williams pled guilty to two counts of aggravated statutory rape, two counts of attempt to commit especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor. Williams was sentenced as a “child sexual predator” on the aggravated statutory rape charges. The total sentence is an effective eight years with two years being served day for day. Williams would be eligible for parole after serving 30 percent of the remainder of the sentence.

Williams waived his right to a criminal indictment last April and was formally charged in Pickett County. The charges were the result of an investigation conducted by the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s Criminal Investigation Division and District Attorney General Randy York’s office.

The case originated from a complaint received and initially was investigated internally by the Department of Safety and Homeland Security’s Investigative Services Bureau.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol terminated Williams in January. He resigned in lieu of his termination and waived his right to any civil service appeals.

“The guilty plea entered by former state trooper Wade Williams brings closure to this unfortunate incident and, hopefully, some relief for the victim and the victim’s family. Williams has been sentenced accordingly, he will serve time in prison, and will be placed on the sex offender registry. The actions of Wade Williams do not represent the men and women of the Tennessee Highway Patrol and all those who put their lives on the line to serve and protect the citizens of Tennessee. No one is above the law, and this type of behavior will not be tolerated by the Department of Safety and Homeland Security,” Commissioner Bill Gibbons said.

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An Indiana man has reached a plea agreement in a July 2011 boating incident on Dale Hollow Lake which resulted in one fatality and injured three others. Joseph Bonomini had been indicted by a Pickett County Grand Jury last year.

Bonomini, 24, of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, pled guilty to one count of reckless vehicular homicide, a class C felony.

The single vehicle collision killed Byron Hartman of Guilford, Indiana, and was investigated by officers of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. The officers found Bonomini under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision.

As a result of the plea agreement, Bonomini faces six years of probation, five years revocation of his boat operating privileges, 250 hours community service, and a $600 fine. He will be eligible for a judicial diversion of his charges once he completes his supervised probation.

The boat operated at the time sank immediately after the collision. It was recovered by TWRA divers and forfeited to the TWRA as a training tool for boat accident investigations training