Casper man pleads guilty to sexually abusing a child 

CASPER (WNE) —  A Casper man initially charged with four counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor pleaded guilty to one in district court on Thursday morning. Austin Workman, 24, entered the plea as part of a deal for prosecutors to drop three of the counts. 

Before Judge Catherine Wilking, Workman admitted to paying an 8-year-old to touch his genitals. 

Per the deal, the prosecution agreed to cap its sentencing argument at nine to 12 years in prison. 

On March 13, a child’s therapist informed Casper Police that her patient had disclosed a sexual assault from when the child was 8, according to an affidavit filed in court. 

Following the tip, a forensic interviewer at the Children’s Advocacy Project talked with the child. 

The child told the forensic interviewer that Workman forced her to touch his penis on at least four occasions. The child added that Workman would pay her for it, according to the affidavit. 

He also allegedly threatened to harm the child if she told anyone about what he made her do.

Workman would also make the child perform that act in front of a woman with whom Workman had a sexual relationship, court papers indicate.  Investigators wrote that the child was fully clothed at the time of the reported offenses. 

Workman, during interviews with police, denied having forced the child to do anything or paying her for it, but he admitted she had touched his penis on multiple occasions, according to the affidavit.

This story was published on August 5, 2025.