Judge pro tem Paul Gilbert appointed lawyer Kris Brown on Friday to represent 41-year-old sex offender Jeffrey Palmer on statutory a sexual seduction charge involving an allegation he had sex with a 15-year-old girl.
Palmer, returned to Douglas County on Tuesday after serving a year in prison in California, told Gilbert that he was unemployed and couldn't afford to hire a lawyer.
He is in Douglas County Jail on $50,000 cash bail.
GIlbert set his next East Fork Justice Court appearance Wednesday.
Palmer is accused of having sex with the 15-year-old in Douglas County before he drove her and her 13-year-old sister to California in 2008.
He was sentenced a year ago in California for lewd acts upon a child where the defendant is more than 10 years older than the victim in connection with the incident.
The two Gardnerville Ranchos girls - ages 15 and 13 at the time - were reported missing from their home by their mother on Aug. 17, 2008. They were located the next day in a Manteca, Calif., motel room along with Palmer and a 16-year-old boy.
Palmer was taken into custody, but the girls and the boy escaped from the safe house where they were being kept before their parents could arrive. That led to a four-day search with leads as far away as Las Vegas, before the teens were picked up in Winnemucca by members of their church and brought home.
Palmer is accused of having sex with the 15-year-old girl between May and August 2008 in Douglas County.
As a result of his California conviction, Palmer must register as a sex offender under lifetime supervision.
