Gardnerville man faces up to decade in prison for lewdness with 14-year-old

A Gardnerville man faces up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine after he admitted lewdness with a child under the age of 16.

Jose Luis Guerra III, 37, is accused of supplying a 14-year-old runaway with alcohol and marijuana as part of what prosecutors referred to as extended sexual conduct.

According to court documents, the crime began June 1, 2022, and lasted until Guerra’s Nov. 8, 2022, arrest, when the girl was found in his home.

He is not eligible for probation at his April 3 sentencing hearing. Guerra is seeking release from jail at a Feb. 7 hearing.

• A Lancaster, Calif., man caught in a sex trafficking sting last summer admitted attempted sexual abuse of a child on Tuesday.

Michael Lawrence Harness, 46, faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

He cannot receive probation unless a psycho-sexual evaluation finds he is not at a high risk to reoffend.

Harness arranged to meet a 15-year-old girl for sex over a social media app. It turns out the girl was an undercover agent.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 28.

Harness was one of nine men caught up in the sting conducted July 7-8, 2022, at Stateline.

Douglas County Sheriff’s investigators, the Reno Police Department’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking team and the FBI conducted a human trafficking operation.

The men allegedly contacted undercover officers posing as minors for sex.

Those convicted of the charges must register as sex offenders. Brothels are legal in some Nevada counties, including Storey and Lyon. However, Douglas is not one of them, and even where prostitution is legal, it is in actual brick and mortar establishments.

One of the suspects, Chonlagum Satarattiwong, 22, is the subject of a $150,000 warrant after he fled back to his native Thailand.