CLEARFIELD – A former carnival worker accused of inappropriately touching a 13-year-old girl was sentenced to state prison Monday in Clearfield County Court.
Tyler John Sears, 21, 406 W. Clay St., Mebane, North Carolina, currently an inmate of the jail, pleaded guilty before President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to indecent assault and harassment.
Ammerman sentenced him to six months to two years in state prison. He stated that he chose a state prison sentence because of the nature of the offense and because Sears is not a resident of the state.
Sears must complete sexual offender’s treatment and register his address with law enforcement under Megan’s Law.
The charges stem from an incident Aug. 5 in Lawrence Township when he allegedly touched the victim’s breast and kissed her neck.
Prior to sentencing, his attorney, Curtis Irwin reminded the court that a previous plea agreement for time served or 87 days at that point was rejected in November. He stated that Sears has been incarcerated since Aug. 8 and has served more than six months already. Irwin noted that prior to this offense, the longest Sears had served in jail was 30 days. He said this “was a real eye opener” for Sears.
When Sears addressed the court, he apologized for his actions and said he would never come back to Clearfield again.
The victim and her family were not present for the sentencing hearing. During the November sentencing hearing, the girl’s mother, father and step-father disagreed with the original time served sentence, leading Ammerman to reject that plea.
At that time, the girl’s mother called the sentence “a slap on the wrist.” Her father stated that his daughter is just a child and he felt Sears should be reprimanded more harshly. Her step-father described her as naive and said Sears took advantage of her. He was also upset that Sears had “violated my space” and “hurt my daughter.”
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Sears met the victim while he was working on the midway on Aug. 2 during the Clearfield County Fair. She told police she gave him her phone number on Aug. 4 and they began texting each other. On Aug. 5 she invited him to her home and they met in the back yard. A friend of the victim was also present.
While there, Sears grabbed the girl’s breast. The girl pushed his hand away, but Sears then kissed her on the neck. The victim and her friend ran into her home.
She told police he knew she was 13 years old. Unfortunately the victim had deleted all of their text messages from her phone.
Police contacted the friend who confirmed the victim’s story.
Officers next spoke to Sears at the fairgrounds. He was taken to the police station where he was questioned.
At first he denied meeting with the girl or her friend, but he consented to a search of his phone. An officer was able to find the text message conversation he had with the victim, which included directions to her home.
Sears then changed his story admitting he had met the girls. He denied kissing the victim and said they only “hung out”. He said he did know she was only 13 years old.
Eventually, he corroborated the victim’s story. He stated he knew a “skin on skin charge” would be coming out of this and he had “messed up.”