Post by WaTcHeR on Sept 2, 2006 11:36:29 GMT -5
09.02.2006 - A former police officer and juvenile home worker has entered a plea in a case of criminal sexual conduct.
Officer Ian Gallagher, 24, pleaded no contest Friday to one count of distributing obscene material to a child.
Five other charges, including three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, accosting a child for immoral purposes and using a computer to distribute obscene material in January and February, will be dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
He had faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted on all charges but, in exchange for the plea, Gallagher will not serve more than six months in the county jail or be placed on probation longer than three years.
He will be sentenced Oct. 9 by Calhoun County Circuit Judge Conrad Sindt.
Gallagher is a former reserve and part-time Homer police officer, working from March 19, 2003, to Nov. 3, 2005, and was working as a youth specialist at the Calhoun County Juvenile Home in Marshall when he was arrested in April.
He was fired May 25 from the juvenile home, according to Director Reggie LaGrand.
Investigators alleged that the victim in the case was a 12-year-old boy who lived in Homer, and not anyone at the juvenile home.
Gallagher was ordered to stand trial after the boy testified he loved him and made the allegations after seeing Gallagher with two women.
District Judge Marvin Ratner noted a possible credibility problem with the boy's testimony, but said the probable cause standard to send the case to trial had been met.
A no-contest plea means that Gallagher neither admits nor denies the allegation but will be sentenced as though he pleaded guilty.
Defense Attorney Joe Eldred told Sindt his client continues to deny a sexual relationship with the boy.
www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060902/NEWS01/609020316/1002
Officer Ian Gallagher, 24, pleaded no contest Friday to one count of distributing obscene material to a child.
Five other charges, including three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, accosting a child for immoral purposes and using a computer to distribute obscene material in January and February, will be dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
He had faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted on all charges but, in exchange for the plea, Gallagher will not serve more than six months in the county jail or be placed on probation longer than three years.
He will be sentenced Oct. 9 by Calhoun County Circuit Judge Conrad Sindt.
Gallagher is a former reserve and part-time Homer police officer, working from March 19, 2003, to Nov. 3, 2005, and was working as a youth specialist at the Calhoun County Juvenile Home in Marshall when he was arrested in April.
He was fired May 25 from the juvenile home, according to Director Reggie LaGrand.
Investigators alleged that the victim in the case was a 12-year-old boy who lived in Homer, and not anyone at the juvenile home.
Gallagher was ordered to stand trial after the boy testified he loved him and made the allegations after seeing Gallagher with two women.
District Judge Marvin Ratner noted a possible credibility problem with the boy's testimony, but said the probable cause standard to send the case to trial had been met.
A no-contest plea means that Gallagher neither admits nor denies the allegation but will be sentenced as though he pleaded guilty.
Defense Attorney Joe Eldred told Sindt his client continues to deny a sexual relationship with the boy.
www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060902/NEWS01/609020316/1002