Convicted child molester Larry J. Nester took the stand Friday morning in Howard Superior Court II, with his fate resting in the hands of Judge Stephen Jessup.
Nester, handcuffed and shackled, didn’t apologize for fondling a 5-year-old girl he was baby-sitting. Instead, he said he agreed with the probation department’s recommended 10-year prison sentence for his crime and sat down.
Jessup wasn’t satisfied.
“He was in a position of trust, and he violated it,” Jessup said. “He blamed this on the little girl and said she enticed him.”
Jessup then increased the probation department’s recommendation to 19 years in prison with one-year suspended to be served on probation. Nester also was ordered to register as a sex offender upon his prison released. The maximum for a B felony is 20 years in prison.
Nester pleaded guilty to a Class B felony in the case in May, admitting he fondled the young girl.
“There’s not enough time for what he did to my daughter,” the victim’s father said on the stand. “He was supposed to be a close friend, and I catch him with my daughter.”
Nester was living at the victim’s house on South Main Street when the sexual contact occurred in November 2008.
“I walked in and heard giggling in the bedroom, opened the door and caught him,” the girl’s father told the judge.
“She still remembers,” he continued. “She used to tell her mother about it all the time, and she was in counseling.”
The girl is now in kindergarten and is doing better, he added.
Besides Nester, the victim’s attorney, Brad Hamilton, did not call on any witnesses or introduce any evidence.
Howard County Prosecutor James Fleming said he would like to see a higher sentence than recommended.
After hearing from the lone witness, Fleming got his wish when Jessup handed down the near-maximum punishment.
Kokomo police initially arrested Nester, 46, on two child molest charges, one A felony and one C felony, in connection with allegations he had sexual contact with a child on multiple occasions.
Police said Nester had sexual contact with the 5-year-old girl in November. The victim’s mother told police her husband walked in on Nester committing a sex act on the child. He said he took the children out of the house and immediately sought police help.
“That’s still not enough time,” the victim’s father said afterwards. “My daughter’s gotta live with this for the next 70 or 80 years, or as long as she’s still alive.”
• Mike Fletcher is the Kokomo Tribune crime reporter. He can be reached at (765) 454-8577 or mike.fletcher@kokomotribune.com.
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