A Long Beach man was ordered to attend a year of sex-impulse counseling after pleading no contest Tuesday for trying to sexually assault a 5-year-old girl at a wedding reception in Valencia last year.
Jeff Boulter, 40, appeared Tuesday in San Fernando Superior Court for what was initially scheduled to be a routine pretrial procedure.
Boulter was charged with one felony count each of kidnapping to commit oral copulation, kidnapping for child molesting, kidnapping a victim under age 14, lewd act upon a child, forcible lewd act upon a child and attempted forcible oral copulation of a victim under 14 years old. Instead, the Long Beach resident entered a plea.
Deputy District Attorney Ani Bailey said Boulter entered the plea to one felony count of attempted lewd act upon a child and one misdemeanor count of indecent exposure.
Questions put to the DA’s office Tuesday asking why Boulter didn’t receive a jail sentence after pleading no contest to a sex offense involving a child were answered by DA spokesman Ricardo Santiago, who said Boulter has not yet been sentenced.
After having entered his plea Tuesday, Boulter was freed from custody.
“Boulter has been in custody since the time of arraignment until today,” Santiago said Tuesday. “If he violates any court orders and terms and conditions of the plea, he faces four years in prison at sentencing.”
Boulter will have to complete 52 weeks of sex-impulse counseling before sentencing on March 18, 2020, in Department F of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, San Fernando Branch, Bailey said in a news release issued Tuesday afternoon.
Boulter led the victim to a dark corner on May 19, 2018, she said.
A server at the wedding saw the attempted assault and confronted the defendant, who then fled, the prosecutor added.
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