BEATRICE – A Lincoln man was sentenced to state prison for a convicted related to having sex with a 15-year-old girl.
35-year-old Kyle Wathor was sentenced in Gage County District Court….to a 10-to-15 year state prison term on a conviction of attempted first-degree sexual assault….part of a plea deal that reduced the charge against him and dismissed two other counts.


Defense attorney Burke Brown had sought probation for Wathor, who has two teenage daughters. "We are asking for a term of probation to allow Mr. Wathor the opportunity to be a father....take this rock-bottom moment and bounce back higher...instead of continuing on a bad path."


District Judge Rick Schreiner said probation was not appropriate in the case…and noted that Wathor had been unsuccessful on probation on two prior occasions in Gage County….and owes child support.  "You had sex with her ten times at your residence. You don't deny that. You said you didn't know she was fifteen. When you found out, she somehow blackmailed you into continuing to have sex with her. So, you tend to justify your actions, in this matter."


Wathor told the judge he is not a predator and not a bad person. He received credit off the prison sentence for 279 days spent in custody, and could become eligible for parole in a little more than four years.


Wathor will be required to register under Nebraska’s Sex Offender Act and be under its rules for 25 years. He was arrested last year following an investigation into the sexual assault which authorities said happened at a Wymore home.  The initial charge against Wathor carried a potential life prison term but was lowered to a charge that carried a maximum term of 20 years.


Also in Gage County District Court Wednesday….30-year-old Timothy Benson II, of Pawnee City was sentenced to a 36- month probation term for driving on a license revoked for D-U-I. He was ordered to serve 120 days in Gage County Jail and fined $2,000. Benson received credit for 129 days already spent in jail.
31-year-old Jesse McCoy, of Beatrice was sentenced to a two-year probation term, for drug possession