STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

More Local News

• We are family: Marco community to have Thanksgiving feast together
• Former Lely standout faces charges in S. Carolina
• Island community loses a father, fisherman

Share and Enjoy [?]

As potential jurors stood outside the courtroom door awaiting jury selection, a Marco Island man opted to plead to molestation charges rather than take his chances at a trial and a possible lifelong prison sentence.

After an emotional hearing Tuesday, David Wayne Shell, 39, formerly of Bonita Springs, pleaded no contest to two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation involving two boys, who were ages 9 and 10.

Collier County Circuit Judge Frank Baker then sentenced the crying man to 35 years in a state prison and deemed him a sexual predator, meaning his photo and information will be available to the public.

"The reason Mr. Shell does not want to go to trial is he does not want to put (them) through this traumatic experience," Assistant Public Defender Shannon Brown told Baker, referring to the two boys, as Shell stood next to her, choking back tears.

Shell has remained in the Collier County jail since his arrest in July 2004.

The prison term was part of a plea agreement negotiated by Brown and Assistant State Attorney Deborah Schwartz, who said outside court that she agreed to the plea bargain to spare the boys from testifying.

Shell knew the boys. Collier County sheriff’s reports say he fondled them and forced sex on them. He had previously served five years in a state prison stemming from his 1994 arrest on similar charges.

State corrections records show he was sentenced in 1995 on the same charges he pleaded to this week.

His criminal record includes 5 1/2-year state prison terms for grand theft involving $20,000 to $100,000 and armed burglary, and a five-year prison sentence for grand theft of a motor vehicle — all dating to 1994 in Lee and Collier counties.

Tuesday’s plea agreement dropped two counts of capital sexual battery involving a victim less than 12 years of age, charges punishable by life in prison. The first-degree charges Shell pleaded to carry a maximum of 30 years each, so he faced 60 years. The agreement also dropped another charge of failing to register his address as a sex offender.

As part of the plea bargain, Shell must testify against his ex-wife, Angel, of Fort Myers, who faces trial on two child neglect charges involving their children.

The couple divorced in 1998 and there was a no-contact order barring Shell from seeing his children. But his wife allowed him to be the primary caregiver between 2001 and 2004 and then asked him to lie about it.

Shell, who began crying while being questioned by Schwartz and Baker, outlined those facts, saying he would say that at his ex-wife’s trial.

"I told the kids they were going back to their mother and it didn’t go over well," he said, choking back sobs.

Sheriff’s reports show the mother lied to deputies and a Child Protective Services worker and said the children were with her in Tennessee, when she’d left them with their father. The report says she also told their children to lie and was confronted by a Child Protective Services employee, who told Angel Shell that Protective Services knew she’d also told her children to lie.

Shell could serve up to 85 percent of his sentence, but his release date is up to the state Department of Corrections.