Man gets nine-month sentence for molesting disabled sister

A 35-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting his mentally disabled sister and pimping her on the Internet was sentenced to nine months in jail Wednesday.

Rodney Nickerson was arrested in March after Las Vegas police examined Web postings soliciting men to use force if necessary to have sex with Nickerson's 36-year-old sister, who has the mental capacity of a 12-year-old.

"I am sorry," Nickerson said in court as he appeared to fight to hold back tears. "I am ashamed of myself."

Nickerson pleaded guilty in May to two counts of sexually motivated coercion, and the Department of Parole and Probation and his family, including his sister, recommended to District Judge Ken Cory that he receive probation.

Amy Coffee, Nickerson's attorney, and Vicki Greco, an attorney representing his sister, said his sister and his mother forgave and loved Nickerson.

"My client (Nickerson's sister) wanted him to apologize, which he did," Greco said. "And she wanted her family unit to be able to reunify."

For most of his life, Nickerson, a bartender for nine years, has been a good and protective brother, Coffee said.

"They (the family) know the whole picture," Coffee said in court. "This is a good man who did a bad thing."

The siblings were living with their mother when he posted a photo of his sister on the Internet "looking for open-minded men str8 or bi into taboo (fam fun)."

According to police, Nickerson said he kissed and touched his sister inappropriately at least three times during the past year.

"He even allowed a total stranger to come into the household to partially molest" his sister, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Tom Moreo.

Nickerson faced a maximum of 12 years in prison, and Moreo asked the judge to sentence him to at least some of that time to send a message to the community.

"You don't give someone probation for being that sick to molest and invite other people to molest in a rough fashion" a family member, Moreo said.

The Department of Parole and Probation said it recommended probation because it deemed Nickerson to have a low risk of re-offending, citing his lack of criminal history and genuine remorse.

Neither Nickerson's mother nor his sister were in court Wednesday. Their letters to the court are sealed, according to the judge's staff.

Greco said the family believes Nickerson's use of methamphetamine was largely to blame for what happened.

She said Nickerson's sister, who is healthy and happy, wants to see her brother again but doesn't want him in the house.

When he is released from the Clark County Detention Center, Nickerson will be on probation for five years and will be under lifetime supervision as a sex offender. He'll also be required to obtain counseling.

Cory said the probation would afford Nickerson the opportunity to get comprehensive treatment and drug and sex offender counseling.

The nine months of jail time were "to fulfill the requirements of justice" and serve as a punishment, the judge said.