Child-assault hearings for two Carson City men continued

Two Carson City men scheduled to be sentenced in District Court on separate child molestation charges had their hearings continued Tuesday.

James Merle Howard's sentencing was held off for a week after it was discovered paperwork was not available that Howard needed to sign concerning a condition of lifetime supervision.

Howard, 59, a former Mills Park train volunteer, pleaded guilty Jan. 24 to attempted lewdness with a child under 14.

According to court documents, Howard took the 5-year-old daughter of a friend to the train station with him on Oct. 13 and kissed and fondled her in the station's employee bathroom.

During a taped interview, Howard initially denied the incident, then allegedly confessed.

Also on Tuesday the sentencing for Fred Ayres, 77, was continued for a week, while the judge reviews a motion filed by the defense.

Ayres pleaded guilty Jan. 10 to open and gross lewdness stemming from allegations he sexually assaulted a 7-year-old and an 8-year-old in his laundry room, bedroom and shed in July 2002.

Both sentencings will be continued to March 7.

In other cases Judge Bill Maddox heard Tuesday:

• Timothy Hogan, 51, was sentenced to 12 to 32 months in prison on felony battery with intent to cause substantial bodily harm. According to the arrest report, Hogan allegedly punched, kicked and choked a female for more than four hours and prevented her from leaving the house.

"Tim hit me open-handed on the left side of my head so hard it shattered my eardrum," the victim testified during the hearing. "I'm not yet free of this man's violence, which he blames on everyone else but himself."

Hogan denied he ever touched the woman, despite pleading guilty to the charge.

"I don't beat women," he said, explaining the victim had fallen, opening a gash above her eye and was losing consciousness in October when he slapped her face to wake her.

"That's when she started running around the house like a lunatic. I tried to take care of her."

But Maddox didn't agree with Hogan's version of events, citing statements from three witnesses who reported seeing Hogan striking the victim.

"Your protestations of innocence at this time are a little late," he said. "Nobody deserves to be beat up like this."

• Anthony Joseph Kelich, 54, pleaded guilty to third-offense drunken driving. He was twice convicted of drunken driving in October 2000 and again in June 2005. Maddox denied to release Kelich on his own recognizance before he begins serving a mandatory year in prison after Chief Deputy District Attorney Anne Langer pointed out Kelich was picked up on another DUI after bailing out in this case.

• Andrew Robert Kuha, 27, pleaded guilty to sales of a controlled substance. He faces 12 to 72 months in prison when he is sentenced March 28.

• Alejandro Monroy-Hernandez, pleaded guilty to three counts of trafficking methamphetamine. According to court documents, Monroy-Hernandez sold methamphetamine to an undercover informant on three occasions in August 2004. He is facing two to 65 years in prison when he is sentenced April 18.

• Alviro Osorio-Pineda, 26, was sentenced to 36-104 months in prison on two counts of trafficking methamphetamine. "You need to understand that you shouldn't be dealing drugs in Carson City," Maddox told Osorio-Pineda following the ruling.

-- Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.