Polygraph delayed for rape suspect

If the defendant passes the test, charges will be dropped.

YOUNGSTOWN — If Darryl Adams of Boardman is going to use a polygraph test to prove his innocence to rape charges, he will have to do it another day.

Adams is accused of raping a teen boy in his home between 2002 and 2004.

But he did not take the polygraph test Thursday — when he was scheduled to travel to the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation in Richfield.

Jim Hay, an investigator with the Mahoning County prosecutor’s office, said fellow investigator Paul Andrews went to BCII Thursday, apparently to witness Adams’ polygraph. But Hay was told the test did not occur.

Dawn Krueger, the assistant Mahoning County prosecutor handling the case, and Dennis DiMartino, the defense attorney for Adams, did not return telephone calls Thursday regarding the matter.

What happened

Adams, DiMartino and Krueger reached an agreement May 29 with the approval of Common Pleas Court Judge James C. Evans, in which Krueger will drop all charges against Adams if he passes a polygraph test. If he fails, Adams has agreed to plead guilty to a single rape count with the prosecution agreeing to recommend a four-year prison term.

Adams was indicted on three rape charges that carry a sentence of three to 10 years in prison each if convicted. The agreement stipulates that if Adams fails the test and reneges on his plea deal, Krueger would be allowed to use the test results at trial to corroborate the teenage boy’s testimony. If the results are inconclusive, another plea agreement could be negotiated, or the case could go to trial.

If he passes the test, charges would be dropped.

Police say Adams committed the rapes against a boy who was between age 14 and 16 and is 19 now. Officials say Adams used his status as a youth pastor in the boy’s church to molest the teenager.