By Jeff Lehr

jlehr@joplinglobe.com

A Carthage man, accused of committing deviate sexual assault in April, pleaded guilty Thursday to a lesser offense and was assessed a suspended jail sentence.

Noe Vazquez-Aguero, 39, pleaded guilty in Jasper County Circuit Court to first-degree sexual misconduct, a Class A misdemeanor. He had been charged with deviate sexual assault, a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Under terms of an agreement with the Jasper County prosecutor’s office, the defendant must undergo treatment in the sexual-offender program of the state Division of Probation and Parole, but he is not required to serve time in prison or jail. Associate Judge Richard Copeland accepted the plea agreement and sentenced Vazquez-Aguero to one year in jail, with execution of the sentence suspended, and one year on probation.

Vazquez-Aguero had been accused of forcing an oral sex act on a Carthage woman on April 11 after showing up at her house late at night. He reportedly was a maintenance man for the woman’s landlord at the time.

A probable-cause affidavit filed by Carthage police states that the woman told police Vazquez-Aguero had been trying to force himself on her sexually the day in question, kissing her neck and grabbing her breasts and buttocks despite her protestations. She left her house to get away from him but returned later that night, the affidavit states.

The woman reportedly found the defendant at her door when she answered a knock before going to bed. The affidavit states that he told her there were moles under the house, and he needed to look for them. She tried to tell him it was too late, but he insisted that he take a look, and she let him in, the affidavit states.

The defendant then allegedly made sexual remarks, pulled his pants down and exposed himself. He allegedly threatened to have her utilities shut off if she did not perform an oral sex act on him, and then forced the act on her, the affidavit states.

The defendant allegedly told her as he was leaving: “See you Sunday.”

Assistant Prosecutor Jeremy Crowley said the prosecutor’s office offered the deal to the defendant when the alleged victim became reluctant to testify. The defendant also was ordered by the judge to have no further contact with the woman or any of her family.