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Michelle Strayer, the woman accused of helping to groom a minor, narrowly avoided having her bail revoked during a hearing this week before Judge Ryan Tira.
The hearing was originally scheduled to take place Jan. 22, before a miscommunication with defense attorney Timothy Reitz caused that hearing to be delayed.
The move to revoke bail came after officials became aware that Strayer, 34, through a mobile banking app, had continued to have contact with 34-year-old co-defendant Marcus McDaniel for over a year. A urine screening ordered after the exchanges came to light also tested positive for alcohol, another violation of the terms of her release.
Taking the stand, Strayer admitted to the alcohol usage, characterizing it as a "small wine bottle," with Reitz pointing out that it was the only slip-up, and had come during a trial in which she had testified against McDaniel.
In relation to her contact with McDaniel via the app, Strayer stated that she had been using it for six years, and that all previous and current contact lists from her phone are automatically uploaded.
The app allows user to send each other "a boost" that gives the receiver the ability to overdraw their account by $5 per boost received, Strayer explained.
Strayer and McDaniel had exchanged these boosts monthly from July 27, 2022 when she was released on bail until an unannounced inspection conducted by her bail supervisor, Edward Frame.
It was during that visit, Frame said, that Strayer came forward about the exchanges. While admitting that she shouldn't have been doing it, Strayer was cooperative, offering her phone and all passwords associated with it for inspection by the district attorney's office.
It was as a result of this admission that Frame ordered the drug test, he said.
Strayer testified that she was aware of the boosts being sent between her and McDaniel as part of a bulk message, but said she had not sent McDaniel any boosts individually, adding that she had deleted McDaniels as a contact in her phone, but did not know how to remove his contact within the app.
In arguing to maintain bail, Reitz stated that, in the computer age, it would depend on what the definition of contact is, stressing that there was no physical or verbal contact exchanged, and that Strayer had not intended the exchanges as a form of contact between the two. With regards to the consumption of alcohol, Reitz admitted that Strayer had "messed up," but cited the stress of the trial as a contributing factor.
He also impressed upon Tira the extent of Strayer's cooperation in the case against McDaniel, labeling it as "substantial."
In contrast, Deputy Assistant District Attorney Phoebe Yates told the court that "there is no such thing as a de minimis violation," stressing that Strayer was facing not just one, but two violations.
She stated that prohibitions exist on contact between those on bail and co-defendants due to the emotional ties that might exist.
Yates stressed to Tira that Strayer had accepted the terms of her release, and was aware there was no leeway for mistakes.
In pushing for Strayer's bail revocation, Yates also pointed out that Strayer was aware of the exchanges, but had failed to notify anyone of them, or seek help in removing McDaniel's contact from the app until Frame's visit.
Remarking that issues such as these make him glad that he is not on social media, Tira found that Strayer's exchanges with McDaniel through the app, while not smart, did not constitute a breach of the no-contact condition, reasoning that the condition is to prevent co-defendants from colluding to create a story that might absolve them of their alleged crimes.
Tira, however, stated that Strayer may well have been consuming alcohol on more than this one occasion that she got caught, which he said tends to be the rule.
Taking this into consideration, Tira, rather than revoking bail, amended it to require alcohol monitoring be required as an additional condition.
In October, a jury convicted McDaniel of rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, indecent assault, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors and obstruction, and earlier this month, he was sentenced to more than 60 years in prison.
Strayer was arrested last April and charged with sexual exploitation of a child and related offenses for helping him make arrangements to abuse the child.
She is scheduled to accept an as-yet undisclosed plea deal on April 12.