A 20-year-old Washington Court House man was sentenced Monday after he admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old minor.
Dalton J. Leyes will spend six months in a community-based correctional control facility, according to the sentencing handed down by Steven Beathard, Fayette County Court of Common Pleas Judge.
Leyes plead guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a fourth-degree felony, Dec.5 during a hearing in the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas.
His May 2016 indictment from a Fayette County grand jury charged him with two felonies: compelling prostitution and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. As part of the December plea deal, the compelling prostitution charge was dismissed.
According to the indictment, Leyes knowingly induced, procured, encouraged, solicited, requested, or otherwise facilitated a minor to engage in sexual activity for hire and engaged in sexual conduct with the minor at some point between the dates of Sept. 1, 2015 and April 17, 2016. The facts set forth on the record by the state indicate that Leyes had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old minor.
In addition to the six-month term in the community-based correctional facility, Leyes received five years of community control supervision and is required to register as a Tier II sex offender.
Leyes attempted to delay the court proceedings back in September when he tried to fire his attorney, Kathryn Hapner, during a pretrial hearing. He asked the court to postpone his trial date for 90 days while he worked to come up with money for the retainer fee for a different attorney. Leyes said he was trying to fire Hapner because he called her office several times and she had not answered the phone.
“I understand she is a very busy woman,” said Leyes during the September hearing. He admitted that he had not attempted to schedule an appointment with Hapner before asking for her dismissal from his case.
Judge Beathard told Leyes he would have to cooperate with the judicial system because he was not willing to postpone Leyes’s trial date.
Leyes’s case never made it to trial as he plead guilty to the criminal charge as part of a plea and sentence deal.
Jess Weade, Fayette County Prosecutor, said the state recommended a penitentiary sentence.
