CANYON CITY — The plea hearing for a Mt. Vernon man accused of 20 sex-related charges and 10 other offenses spanning a period from 2015 to 2020 has again been postponed.

Brogan C. McKrola, 22, was scheduled to enter pleas in two cases against him at a hearing in Grant County Circuit Court on Monday, Jan. 24. A motion hearing has been rescheduled for 9 a.m. on April 22.

McKrola’s defense attorney, Robert Moon, told the court that McKrola was not ready to enter a plea. However, he requested a hearing on a motion he filed to have separate juries, which Special Deputy District Attorney Tobias Tingleaf is pushing the court to deny.

For his part, Tingleaf is asking the judge to consolidate the cases.

With charges dating back to 2015, some witnesses have now scattered across the country, Moon said.

In one case, McKrola stands accused of six counts of first-degree rape, one count of first-degree kidnapping, one count of first-degree sodomy, one count of first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, one count of attempted first-degree sodomy, four counts of first-degree sexual abuse, one count of second-degree sexual abuse, three counts of third-degree sexual abuse, one count of luring a minor and one count of harassment, along with two counts of first-degree aggravated animal abuse.

The alleged crimes were committed between June 1, 2015, and Dec. 4, 2020, according to a secret indictment filed May 25 in Grant County Circuit Court by Tingleaf, a senior assistant attorney general with the Oregon Department of Justice who is prosecuting the case on behalf of the Grant County District Attorney’s Office.

The indictment listed at least nine different alleged victims, for six of whom the related charges were said to involve “forcible compulsion.” Two of the alleged victims were said to have been “incapable of consent by reason of mental incapacitation,” and two were minors at the time of the alleged offenses.

Thirteen of the charges are Measure 11 offenses, which carry mandatory minimum sentences of at least six years with no possibility for any sentence reduction.

The animal abuse charges allegedly occurred between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2020, and involved the unlawful torture and killing of a porcupine.

In the other case, McKrola is accused of first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy, first-degree sexual abuse, second-degree kidnapping, three counts of strangulation and furnishing alcohol to a person under 21.

Those crimes allegedly took place on Dec. 20, 2020, and involved a single victim, according to an amended indictment filed March 1 by Grant County District Attorney Jim Carpenter.