Naked burglar gets 14 years

A little more than a year after it happened, a Carson City man who climbed in the window of a neighboring home and lay naked on a woman was sentenced Tuesday to up to 14 years in prison.

Zachary Lane Harold pleaded guilty in April to one felony count of burglary and one gross misdemeanor count of open and gross lewdness.

"He is a very scary man. Women in the Carson area are at risk. He has not learned from his mistakes," Chief Criminal Deputy District Attorney Anne Langer said to Judge Bill Maddox before the sentencing.

In exchange for the guilty plea, Langer dismissed felony charges of attempted sexual assault and battery to commit sexual assault.

Harold will be eligible for parole in 5-1/2 years.

Harold climbed into the second-story bathroom window of his 48-year-old neighbor June 8, 2001, stripped naked and lay on top of her as she slept.

She said while asleep on her couch about 4 a.m. she felt a hand over her mouth.

She said she bit his hand so hard it dislocated her jaw and the man then climbed under the covers with her.

"He said he couldn't control himself and he'd been thinking about me and wanted to know if I had been thinking about him," she said.

He had duct tape, which Langer contends he intended to use to keep the victim quiet.

In the darkness of the room, the victim said at first she had no idea who it was.

Then, she said, "I saw the shape of his head and realized it was the guy who lives next door to me."

This wasn't Harold's first run-in with the law.

In 1992 he was convicted in Washoe County of battery with intent to commit sexual assault. He received a suspended prison sentence of six years, and was put on probation.

Then in 1996, he was convicted of open and gross lewdness. In that case, he grabbed the breast of a woman in the kitchenette of a Reno radio station where he was working as a painter.

Because of the second incident, he violated the first probation and was sentenced to six years in prison. He served three.

"This is the third time, and this time he needs to go away for as long as he can," Langer argued during sentencing. "Mr. Harold's behavior is escalating."

Public defender Paul Giese characterized the incident as Harold's clumsy attempt to seduce the woman with whom he had a passing acquaintance.

"He thought the victim was going to be receptive. He was not there to harm her. He was there because he thought there was a mutual attraction," Giese said.