LANCASTER MAN GETS JAIL TERM FOR ABUSE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

A 51-year-old Palmdale businessman accused of molesting two daughters of a family friend was sentenced Thursday to a year in county jail and five years probation.

James Flair Jr. had earlier pleaded no contest to a count of a lewd act with a child after prosecutors agreed to dismiss five additional counts, including

continuous sexual abuse and showing pornography to a child with a computer.

``He was a trusted family friend who had been allowed to baby-sit them on numerous occasions in the past,'' Deputy District Attorney Peter Bliss said. ``He took advantage of his position to touch them inappropriately.''

Antelope Municipal Court Judge Howard Swart imposed the sentence after Lancaster Superior Court Judge Frank Jackson recused himself from the case because he knows the defendant.

Prosecutors had asked for a three-year prison term, but Swart instead gave Flair a six-year suspended sentence.

Swart took into consideration Flair's lack of criminal record and the nature of the molestation, which involved touching rather than more substantial sexual conduct, officials said.

``He needed to balance that against the acts the defendant did engage in,'' Bliss said.

Flair was arrested and charged last year after the girls told their parents. Prosecutors said the incidents started as early as 1992. The girls are now 13 and 10.

Flair's attorney, Michael Eberhardt, could not be reached Thursday for comment. The defendant's family claimed the charges were fabricated as a result of a dispute.

With the victims and their mother in attendance, the father told the court that the girls are in counseling and are struggling with the aftereffects of the molestation, Bliss said.

The father said their behavior has changed, their performance in school has dropped and they are still in the process of trying to heal, Bliss said.