Accused sex offender pleads no content to drunk driving charge

A Superior man accused of sexually assaulting four different women – three in Superior and one in Burnett County – entered a no contest plea in Douglas County Circuit Court on Thursday to unrelated charges.

Craig Allen Mehtala, 28, entered the plea for a first offense operating while intoxicated ticket, a city ordinance violation. According to online court records, the incident took place on July 26, less than three months before Mehtala was arrested in conjunction with the sexual assaults.

Mehtala was ordered to pay a $754.50 fine and undergo an alcohol assessment and driver’s safety plan. His driver’s license was revoked for seven months. Two additional city ordinance traffic violations – violating a traffic signal and operating with a detectable amount of a controlled substance – were dismissed.

Mehtala still faces three counts of second degree sexual assault in Douglas County stemming from three separate stranger assaults on three separate women last summer.

He pleaded not guilty to all three counts during his November arraignment. The Superior man also faces felony counts of second degree sexual assault and battery in conjunction with a 2006 rape that took place in Burnett County. The cases were linked through DNA evidence, according to authorities and the criminal complaints.

A status conference for the Douglas and Burnett county cases was scheduled for later this month.

Mehtala remains in custody in the Douglas County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash bail in the Douglas County case and $2,500 cash to cover the $25,000 signature bond ordered in the Burnett County case.

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