BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com
Jacob Schaufler, 36, of Los Alamos has been granted a conditional discharge with five years of supervised probation under a plea agreement reached between Kent Wahlquist, Chief Deputy District Attorney and Defense Attorney Bill Snowden and approved by First Judicial District Judge Jason Lidyard. Schaufler agreed to plead guilty to the charge of criminal sexual contact of a minor (child under 13), a third degree felony offense occurring on or about March 10 or 11 of this year.
A conditional discharge may be granted when a person who has not been previously convicted of a felony offense is found guilty of a crime for which a deferred or suspended sentence is authorized, the court may, without entering an adjudication of guilt, enter a conditional discharge order and place the person on probation on terms and conditions authorized by state statutes. If convicted of the crime, Schaufler faced six years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine.
Under the plea agreement if the conditional discharge is revoked, Schaufler will receive credit for 34 days of pre-sentence confinement for his incarceration in custody and on electronic monitoring. If the conditional discharge is revoked and he is convicted of the charge, the offense will be classified as a serious violent offense. Schaufler could at that point be sentenced to six years less the the pre-sentence confinement credit and time spent on probation and/or be placed in supervised probation for an indeterminate period not less than five years or in excess of 20 years with sex offender registration required.
If Schaufler was sentenced to the Department of Corrections, he would also serve an indeterminate period of supervised parole for no less than five years up to natural life.
Under the plea agreement, Schaufler may have non-abusive contact with his wife and children at the discretion of his wife. He is required to continue to actively participate in counseling/therapy. He will continue with treatment until he is discharged by his providers and when available, provide discharge letters to adult probation.
The original penalties allowed under state statutes for the crime pled to in the agreement can be imposed if Schaufler violates the terms of the plea agreement, commits a new offense, fails to abide by his conditions of release or fails to show up for court.