Suspect pleads guilty to lewdness, battery

A 30-year-old man accused of kidnapping and raping a 13-year-old Henderson girl is to have those charges dropped in exchange for his guilty pleas to lesser charges.

Sergio Hugo Hernandez will plead guilty to battery with intent to commit sexual assault and lewdness with a child under 14, his lawyer, Dan Bunin, told Judge Rodney Burr in Henderson Justice Court on Tuesday.

In exchange for the guilty pleas, Chief Deputy District Attorney Tom Carroll agreed to drop the charges of sexual assault with a minor and a first-degree kidnapping charge that Hugo Hernandez had been facing.

Carroll described the plea deal as a good resolution. There were obstacles to proving the sexual assault charge.

"It's a unique case in that the girl was actually blacking out during the sexual assault," Carroll said.

Also, the DNA evidence that tied Hugo Hernandez to the crime was on the girl's clothing, not inside her, so it did not prove he penetrated the girl, which is an element of sexual assault, Carroll said.

Carroll said the girl's father was at Tuesday's hearing and had attended all prior hearings for the case. The family was consulted about the plea agreement and was OK with it, the prosecutor said.

Bunin said it was important for Hugo Hernandez to dispense with the sexual assault charge, because it is punishable by a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.

The battery offense carries a sentence of five years to life in prison, and the lewdness charge is punishable by 10 years to life in prison.

Carroll said he plans to argue for consecutive prison sentences for Hugo Hernandez in District Court.

That means the parole board would have to parole Hugo Hernandez on the first count before he could start serving time on the second, "which is a nice little twist," Carroll said.

Bunin said his client is "going to do significant prison time."

Hugo Hernandez's girlfriend was seen leaving the Henderson Justice Court after the hearing. She is pregnant with his child, Bunin said.

Hugo Hernandez was arrested in April, 10 weeks after the teen reported a man fitting his description forced her into his truck while she waited for her mother to pick her up at Windmill Parkway and Arroyo Grande Boulevard in January.

She had missed the bus from Greenspun Junior High School and was sitting on the ground doing homework when Hugo Hernandez approached her asking for directions, according to the police report.

He then grabbed her from behind and put her in a chokehold, causing her to lose consciousness, according to report.

She woke up inside his truck. He held onto her sweater as they passed Kesterson Elementary School and then the Auto Mall. They stopped behind a dirt hill at a nearby construction site.

He opened the passenger door and she kicked him in the face, but he squeezed her neck, causing her to again black out, the report said.

When she awoke, she was still in the truck but her shoes and purse were missing. The man let her out of the truck and then squeezed her neck again.

She told police that the next thing she could recall was lying on her back in the dirt while her attacker was pulling up her pants. She got up and ran toward the University of Phoenix campus next to U.S. Highway 95 and flagged down a man in the parking lot.

Police found sperm on the girl's clothing, and they used that to establish a DNA profile that was run through a database.

Hugo Hernandez came back as the match. His DNA profile had been collected following his conviction of a carjacking in Long Beach, Calif.

The genetic material does not necessarily prove he penetrated the girl, which is a necessary element of sexual assault, Carroll said.

He praised the California law, which requires all convicted felons to submit genetic material and led to Hugo Hernandez' arrest.

Nevada, which requires only some felons, such as sex offenders, to submit DNA, has a new law that takes effect in October requiring convicted felons to submit genetic material.

"Nevada is moving in the right direction," Carroll said.