A Casper man's guilty plea on Friday to charges of taking indecent liberties with children was greeted with joy by at least one area resident.

"I'm so excited," Tami Fowler said, speaking on a day when co-workers helped her celebrate the anniversary of her employment at Wyoming Recovery. "I couldn't have asked for a better present."

Fowler has not previously been identified in the Star-Tribune, but her concerns about the activities of a registered sex offender named Timothy Adams resulted in publication of a story in the newspaper about a year ago.

The 47-year-old asked at the time not to be named in the story, which reported Adams' attempts to befriend her son during open gym sessions at McKinley Elementary School. The family later learned that Adams was a registered high-risk sex offender known by the name of Timothy Freeman.

Adams told the Star-Tribune at the time that he had asked the boy to attend church with him, but only out of an interest to spread the Gospel.

Police said they could not intervene in the case unless there was evidence a crime had been committed.

That evidence apparently emerged later in connection with other children who came in contact with Adams. Adams was arrested in April, several weeks after the story was published. Casper police said he inappropriately touched eight children in the previous 10 months, kissing and rubbing their legs during sleepovers at his north Casper home.

Adams pleaded guilty on Friday to seven counts of taking immodest, immoral or indecent liberties with a child. A third-degree sexual assault charge was dismissed, as was an additional liberties charge. He will be sentenced to between 12 and 20 years in prison, according to a plea agreement that was discussed in 7th District Court.

Fowler said she is relieved that her son, who is now 12, told his parents about the invitation to Adams' church. The boy's involvement with Adams did not continue.

Still, Fowler said her son changed after the scare.

"He doesn't go out by himself as much," she said.

Adams will be scheduled for a sentencing hearing in the coming weeks. His status as a high-risk sex offender is tied to convictions in 1987 and 1992.

According to the Wyoming Attorney General's Web site, Adams was convicted of two counts of first degree rape in his home state of Washington in 1987.

In 1992, Adams was convicted in Cheyenne of attempted immoral and indecent acts and was ordered to serve nine to 10 years in prison. Court records from Adams' 1992 conviction describe the attempted seduction of an adolescent boy.

Reporter Anthony Lane can be reached at (307) 266-0593 or at anthony.lane@casperstartribune.net.