ANTELOPE ACRES MAN SENTENCED IN SENDING OF EXPLICIT E-MAILS TO MINOR.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - An Antelope Acres man accused of sending sexually explicit e-mail to a 14-year-old girl has been sentenced to 120 days in jail after pleading no contest to attempted child detention.

Thomas Ryan Nault, 39, entered his plea after prosecutors decided not to retry him on two felony counts of sending computer messages with the intent to seduce a minor.

Nault originally was charged with seven felony counts of sending harmful information through e-mail with the intent to seduce a minor. In November, a jury acquitted him of five counts, deadlocked on two and found him guilty of three misdemeanor counts of sending harmful matter to a minor, officials said.

Judge Pamela Rogers sentenced Nault on Monday to five years' probation, and ordered him to stay away from the victim, pay her $3,750 restitution, attend a 16-month sexual counseling class and not be with anyone under 18 without another adult present, officials said.

Rogers sentenced Nault to three consecutive one-year jail terms for the three misdemeanor counts on which he was convicted but stayed that sentence pending his compliance with the terms of his probation, officials said.

When he was arrested in November 1998, Nault was an airplane mechanic with Aerotherm Corp., which works at NASA's Dryden Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base.

Authorities said he sent the messages to the girl, who is a relative, using a National Aeronautics and Space Administration computer and e-mail account.

An investigation by special agents of the NASA inspector general, District Attorney's Office investigators and Dryden security officials found that Nault sent numerous sexually explicit e-mails to the girl, officials said.