Sex offender to enter plea on statutory seduction charge

A 41-year-old sex offender, accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl in Douglas County, is set to enter a plea to attempted statutory sexual seduction when he goes before District Judge Dave Gamble on March 9.

Jeffrey Palmer waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday in East Fork Justice Court.

His court-appointed lawyer Kris Brown said Palmer would plead guilty to the class E felony.

Originally he was charged with statutory sexual seduction.

Palmer was returned to Douglas County in January after serving a year in prison for lewd acts upon a child where the defendant is more than 10 years older than the victim.

Palmer is accused of having sex with the 15-year-old in Douglas County before he drove her and her 13-year-old sister to California in 2008.

The two Gardnerville Ranchos girls were reported missing from their home by their mother on Aug. 17, 2008. They were located the next day in a Manteca, Calif., motel room along with Palmer and a 16-year-old boy.

Palmer was taken into custody, but the girls and the boy escaped from the safe house where they were being kept before their parents could arrive. That led to a four-day search with leads as far away as Las Vegas, before the teens were picked up in Winnemucca by members of their church and brought home.

Palmer is accused of having sex with the 15-year-old girl between May and August 2008 in Douglas County.

As a result of his California conviction, Palmer must register as a sex offender under lifetime supervision.

He is in Douglas County Jail on $50,000 bail.

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