Jason Michael Breidenbach
Two 13-year-olds girls who were groped while working at a haunted house wrote that they had nightmares and depression as a result of the Oct. 16, 2023, crime.
Jason Michael Breidenbach, 47, who said he was intoxicated at the time, was sentenced to up to six years in prison on Tuesday.
District Judge Todd Young said the girls were in no way responsible for Breidenbach’s actions.
“They need to hear that they are not at fault,” Young said. “They wanted to create a good time and make their community a better place.”
Breidenbach admitted to felony child abuse in January the month before the case went to trial on charges of lewdness with a child and child abuse by sexual assault.
The girls were volunteering at the haunted house when Breidenbach and his fiancée were attending.
In a statement to the court, Breidenbach apologized.
“I never meant to offend anyone in any way,” he said. “The way I scared people while I was intoxicated is shameful.”
He said he didn’t realize they were children.
Attorney Theresa Ristenpart presented character testimony from Breidenbach’s fiancée and their neighbor and a letter from his employer.
His fiancée testified they’d met three years ago and came to Carson Valley from Wisconsin to care for her mother.
Ristenpart acknowledged that Breidenbach was very intoxicated.
Prosecutor Chelsea Mazza. introduced letters from both of the girls involved and one girl’s mother provided victim testimony.
She said that after what happened her daughter wouldn’t come out of her room and wanted to go to school online.
Mazza disputed Ristenpart’s assertion that Breidenbach was fixable, citing two prior felonies and several misdemeanors on his record.
Just a dozen days before the haunted house incident Breidenbach was in East Fork Justice Court for failing to register as an ex-felon.
In sentencing Breidenbach, Young agreed with Mazza.
“As you sit here today, I believe you regret your conduct, but that regret doesn’t change anything,” Young said.
• A Gardnerville man, who admitted to the possession of scores of images of children under the age of 16 of a sexual nature, received probation on Tuesday.
Luke Easton Simpson, 28, appeared out of custody in Douglas County District Court on Tuesday with attorney Orrin Johnson.
While a plea agreement recommended a prison sentence of no more than four years, a last minute stipulation led prosecutor Ric Casper joining with Johnson in a recommendation for probation with a maximum six year underlying sentence.
Johnson said Simpson expressed revulsion at what he’d done and relief when he was caught.
In sentencing Simpson, District Judge Tod Young pointed out that the victims in the case were real living people.
“These are real human beings who are sexualized and abused,” he said. “This may have happened years ago and thousands of miles a way, but you perpetuated the victimization of these children.”
Simpson was sentenced to an underlying sentence of up to six years and will be on probation for three years.
He must register as a sex offender. and a felon.