Written by AARON CASTREJON CityWatch Editor WEST COVINA - A plea deal was negotiated after a mistrial was declared in the case of a Glendora man accused of sexual battery and child molestation. Patrick Adam Nelson, 41, pleaded no contest to one count of misdemeanor lewd acts. Nelson was immediately sentenced to 30 days in jail, three years of summary probation, 30 days of community labor, 52 sex compulsion classes and he was ordered to move from his residence within 90 days, according to Ricardo Santiago of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. A no contest plea is treated as a guilty plea. Nelson was originally accused of one misdemeanor count each of child molestation and sexual battery against his then 17-year-old neighbor in 2018.
Jurors deliberated for about two and a half days and could not reach a unanimous decision on either charge, ultimately splitting the decision 9-3 on the child molestation charge and 11-1 on the sexual battery charge. After jurors were excused May 17, Nelson’s defense attorneys briefly expressed to Judge Robert Serna their intentions to strike a plea deal. Nelson was initially offered a plea deal before trial began which he never accepted. During pre-trial, the defense briefly mentioned a 50-foot stay-away protective order as an issue preventing the acceptance of the plea deal. In a secret recording the victim’s father made of Nelson recounting the molestation and sexual battery incidents from 2018, the father expressed desire for Nelson to move away from the neighborhood. Nelson lives across the street from the victim and her family. Appearing in the audience Friday were Nelson’s parents, Byron Nelson and Judy Nelson — the latter is mayor of Glendora. |
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