DALTON, Ga. — Editor’s note: This story contains language that some readers may find offensive.

Daniel Staats stood with his head slightly bowed beside his attorney in Whitfield County Superior Court on Tuesday. He spoke only to answer in the affirmative when Judge Cindy Morris asked him if he understood the plea agreement he had made and whether he signed it voluntarily.

Staats, a faith-based counselor, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault by a psychotherapist engaged in sexual contact with an individual being treated/counseled. He had been indicted on four counts. Judge Morris then sentenced him to 20 years, with two years to serve in state prison and the rest on probation. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for seven years and to receive sex offender counseling.

Through his attorney Marcus Morris, Staats declined to comment. But Marcus Morris said he believed it was a fair sentence.

“As always in these types of cases, when there’s an investigation that finds a factual basis, there’s an expectation that you will serve some time,” he said.

District Attorney Bert Poston said he also thought the sentence was appropriate and that Staats’ victims were consulted.

“There was one primary victim but there were other women who were victims of inappropriate if not strictly illegal behavior on his part,” Poston said. 

Staats was arrested in December 2017 by the Dalton Police Department after an investigation following “allegations of inappropriate and illegal conduct with women who were in his care for court-ordered psychotherapy counseling as part of their probation.”

The indictment handed down by the grand jury charged Staats with four counts of sexual assault by a psychotherapist engaged in sexual contact with an individual being treated/counseled for touching the breasts of a woman who he was counseling and allowing her to perform oral sex on him. Staats is the founder and owner of Helping the Hurting, a Christian counseling service. 

Asked why Staats will only have to register as a sex offender for seven years, Poston said there is “a lack of clarity in the sex offender registry legislation such that we don’t believe the statute would require him to register at all.”

“Registration is required for ‘Sexual Assault upon a Person in Custody under OCGA 16-6-5.1,’ but that language was added to the sex offender statute back when 16-6-5.1 only pertained to victims who were inmates,” Poston said. “Since then, the statute was expanded to include other types of victims who are not in custody (teacher/student) or situations like Staats’.

“The Legislature, probably due to simple oversight, failed to update the sex offender statute to reflect that all violations of 16-6-5.1 required registration. Thus, it appears under current law, only the original portion of the statute dealing with persons in actual custody as victims require registration. This is on our list of things to take up with the Legislature next session, but that’s the state of the current law.

“Nevertheless, we made registration a condition of the sentence but could not do so for an indefinite period of time as would otherwise be required if the statute were clear.”