Mother Of Dead Infant Charged With Rape

RAPID CITY, SD - There's a new twist in the case of a one-year old Rapid City girl's death.
 
KELOLAND News first told you last week about a 14-year-old boy's arrest for the baby's murder.

Now that baby's mother has been arrested and charged with statutory rape.

Baby Lillie Solles' funeral was on December 31st. But new court papers reveal her mother, 28-year old April Solles, was arrested the day before on three charges of raping a teenage boy. And her attorney says the two cases are connected.

One-year-old Lillie Solles received serious head injuries on December 14th, according to the Pennington County Sheriff's Department. One week later, the girl died.

A 14-year-old boy was charged with second degree murder in the death. Now, the girl's mother, April Solles, is also behind bars and her attorney says the two have a relationship.

"We've seen and heard nothing as far as actually evidence. Right now, we have the mere allegations of a 14-year-old, troubled child. I mean, he is charged at this point, with the murder of my client's child," Solles' attorney Paul Winter said.

Prosecutors won't confirm whether the 14-year-old suspect and the 14-year-old victim are the same boy.

"These charges came as a result of the investigation into her daughter's death. Many people were spoken to and that's when this relationship came to light," Pennington County Deputy District Attorney Tracey Decker said.

Solles is currently being held here at the Pennignton County Jail on a $100,000 bond.

She was granted a furlough the day after her arrest, so that she could attend her daughter's funeral. But her attorney questions why her bond is so high.

"She doesn't have a criminal history, whatsoever, that we're aware of. So we don't know why the court would consider her a danger to the community or a flight risk, which are usually the primary two concerns for a bond," Winter said.

"It's all very tragic. However these people are all intertwined or interrelated, it's a sad day for multiple families in this case," Decker said.

If convicted on all three counts of statutory rape, Solles faces 45 years in prison.  She and her husband have another young child.