Yakima Man Sentenced For Social Media Scam

A judge Friday sentenced a Yakima man today to 48 months in prison and 12 months of community custody once he's released. Austin Bates pleaded guilty back in June to six counts of third degree statutory rape. In May, a victim of Austin Bates came forward with information that Bates assaulted her. Yakima Police say before his arrest, Bates used a Facebook page under the name Justin Tomerlin to meet and lure underage girls.
on Friday a judge sentenced Bates to spend 48 months in prison and twelve in community custody. A plea deal wanted for bates to receive a total sentence of less than sixty months but the additional community custody that is mandated with cases of child rape made up for the remaining twelve months of jail time that the judge initially wanted for bates. A plea for bates allowed two other counts of communicating with minors to be dropped along with two of the six charges of child rape for informal purposes.