District Judge Michael Gibbons talked a 19-year-old Gardnerville man into staying on probation rather than serving a year in Douglas County Jail for having sex with a 14-year-old girl.
Michael Cox told the judge Monday he wanted to go to jail instead of spending three years on probation so he could be accepted by Job Corps.
Cox, sentenced in November, has not paid his fees and fines, but hasn't committed any new offenses. He pleaded guilty to statutory sexual seduction, a misdemeanor, in connection with the July 2009 offense.
He told Gibbons that Job Corps would take him if he's not on probation.
"I don't see me in the foreseeable future finding a job. I'd rather get this done and put all behind me and start anew," Cox said.
He said he had no job, money, transportation or a permanent place to live.
Gibbons said he would credit the defendant $25 an hour for community service that could go toward his fines and fees.
Gibbons said if he had official notice Cox was going to the Job Corps he would consider ending probation early as long as there were no new offenses and fees and fines were paid.
Gibbons also told Cox because there was less than four years difference in age between him and the victim, he did not have to register as a sex offender. Cox was forbidden to have any contact with the victim or her family.
Cox said at his sentencing he thought the girl was 16, and claimed the sex was consensual.
