MASON CITY — A Mason City man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to child endangerment charges connected with a van crash last spring. 

24-year-old Deairreo Cryer was operating a vehicle that crashed into a ditch in the 1500 block of 12th Northwest on May 2nd, injuring all five occupants. Three of the victims were children between the ages of three and seven years old.

Cryer had a blood alcohol content level of .137 after the crash, well above the legal limit for driving of .08.

Cryer was originally charged with: one count of serious injury by vehicle, one count of child endangerment causing serious injury and two counts of child endangerment causing bodily injury.

During a hearing this week in Cerro Gordo County District Court, he pleaded guilty to three of the charges, with District Judge Rustin Davenport sentencing Cryer to ten years in prison on the child endangerment causing serious injury charge and five years in prison on each of the child endangerment causing bodily injury charges. 

Online court records show prosecutors have filed a motion to dismiss the serious injury by vehicle charge.