Up to seven years for rape and theft

COEUR d'ALENE — The man who falsely claimed to be a Marine and made up numerous other lies to manipulate women for thousands of dollars will now spend up to seven years in prison.

Michael J. McNearney Jr., 25, was sentenced Thursday by 1st District Court Judge Lansing Haynes.

As part of a plea deal with the Kootenai County Prosecutor's Office in September, McNearney agreed to be sentenced on two counts of felony theft by deception and one count of rape. At that time, six other rape charges against him were dismissed by prosecutors, as were two counts of grand theft and a count of theft by deception.

Before his sentence, McNearney told the court he was sorry for his string of manipulations and lies and planned to spend the next few years trying to become a better person.

Public Defender Chris Schwartz said his client had a troubled childhood and was "drinking as much as possible every day" while manipulating the women. He said if McNearney put his charisma to good use he could do great things.

Haynes gave McNearney three years fixed and four years indeterminate. McNearney was given credit for 237 days already served in jail.

Testimony from alleged victims in court during a preliminary hearing showed a pattern of McNearney meeting women on an online dating website called "PlentyOfFish" under the name "magicmike." He also met them at bars.

He was soon convincing them to give him hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars, or getting them to spend money on him using credit cards. In many cases he promised to pay the women back, but never did.

McNearney has been a resident of both Spokane and Coeur d'Alene.