Ranchos park predator receives 11 years in prison

A Gardnerville Ranchos man, who admitted to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl last year at a drunken party in a public park, was sentenced to up to 11 years in prison on Wednesday.

Alexander Jaiden Russell, 19, was sentenced on charges of attempted sexual assault of a child under the age of 16 and lewdness with a 15-year-old girl, he admitted fondling.

“The court finds as fact that the girl has no responsibility for the criminal behavior you engaged in,” District Judge Tod Young said in sentencing Russell. “If she ever wants to read this record … the one thing she should read and remember is that this is not her fault. She is not to blame. She is a child. She is a victim and was not responsible. You, as the adult have a responsibility to protect those more vulnerable than you.”

Prosecutor Chelsea Mazza said that Russell wrote a letter to the girl to try and get her to recant after the incident was revealed.

“He has not taken any responsibility in this,” she said. “He admitted what he’d done, however he placed the blame on these children. He blamed everyone but himself for his own conduct.”

Russell was living in people’s back yards and in the parks in June 2021 when the incidents occurred. On Wednesday, he detailed his conduct with the girl.

Mazza said that Russell’s friends bullied the girl at school and even caught wind of a plot to draw her to a party where she would be killed.

The girl has been advised to remain in places where there are cameras or teachers to prevent any harm, that has been threatened.

Russell went into depth about what happened that night, confirming he’d been drinking and hanging around with teenagers much younger than he was.

Russell was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor not long after his 18^th birthday, and as a juvenile brought an air gun to school, claiming it was real.

“I was 18, I was immortal,” Russell said. “I was hanging around a crowd that weren’t very good people. I should have never gone out that night. I should never have drank.”

The victim of the sexual assault wasn’t the source of the complaint, and according to her parents was angry at them over the case.

“She has undergone a victim shaming that she has been trying to overcome for the past year,” the victim’s parents said in a letter to the judge.

Russell was sentenced to 33-84 months for the attempted sexual assault of a child and 19-48 months for lewdness with a 15-year-old girl. After his release he will be required to register as a sex offender and will be subject to lifetime supervision. He was given credit for 265 days time served.