California man sentenced in Carson City for statutory sexual seduction

A man accused of having sexual intercourse with a minor under 16 was sentenced to a year in prison Monday morning.

Ronald Hicks, 66, of Highland, California, was sentenced in Carson City on open or gross lewdness, sexual assault against a child under 16 and statutory sexual seduction charges. Hicks was charged with having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl between last April.

He had business to tend to in Carson City last year, and brought the girl with him. She had told Hicks that she was 18 years old, but when she called her mother to tell her that she was in Carson, her mother called Hicks’s brother to let him know that the girl was underage.

Attorneys stated in court that the girl “presented herself as older” when Hicks had asked what her age was prior to the sexual intercourse.

Hicks pleaded guilty to the sexual assault charges on Feb. 28, but was sentenced Monday to one year in prison and three years probation. Part of his condition is that he must remain in Carson City for the length of his probation in order to be supervised. Hicks must also register as a sex offender and have no contact with the victim.

Also on Monday, Christopher Maddox pleaded guilty to three counts of battery. Maddox was arrested March 26 after deputies responded to reports of a fight at a North Edmonds residence. Maddox plead guilty to battery with a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm, battery with a deadly weapon, and battery causing substantial bodily harm. He will be sentenced on June 15.