Nora Springs counselor will plead guilty in sex with child client case

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A Nora Springs women who was charged with having sex with a young client while working as a counselor has told the court she will change her plea to guilty.

Sharmae Marie Field, age 27, of Nora Springs, was charged with sexual abuse in the third degree, a Class C felony, and sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist, a Class D felony.

According to information filed in Floyd County District Court, Field was employed as a counselor at Francis Lauer Youth Services in Mason City, where the alleged victim, identified as a 14-year-old boy, was a client.

The report alleges that Field would pick up the boy near his home in Mason City and then drive to Rudd where they would have sex. She was arrested March 21 in Nora Springs.

Field had pleaded not guilty and a trial was scheduled to begin Oct. 25, but before the trial began Judge DeDra Schroeder filed an order stating that the court had been informed the defendant intended to plead guilty, and a plea hearing was set for Nov. 21. There was no listing of the charges to which Field would plead, or the terms for a plea agreement.