A convicted child molester will not go back to prison after pleading no contest to violating probation by annoying a child.
Peter William Sweet, 62, of Arbuckle, was sentenced Sept. 7 to 24 months probation for the 2020 incident in which he reportedly spoke suggestively to a child playing near his property line.
Sweet originally pleaded not guilty and had planned to fight the charges because another child who heard the verbal exchange could not corroborate the accusation, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing.
Sweet was facing up to six years in prison when he took the District Attorney’s offer to plead to the lesser charge.
Sweet is a registered sex offender. In 1989, Sweet was convicted by a jury at age 31 of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14. He was sentenced to two concurrent six year terms in state prison, and was released on parole in 1992.
Sweet has had a number of run-ins with the law since his original conviction, including multiple DUIs. He has also been convicted over the years of violating probation, failing to register as a sex offender, and failing to pay fines. ■