Man given credit for time served

A Tucumcari man will serve two months in the county jail with credit for time served plus 4 1/2 years of the rest of his incarceration suspended in a sexual assault case.

Lamar Eugene French, 32, pleaded guilty in district court May 27 to third-degree criminal sexual penetration and pleaded no contest to misdemeanor aggravated battery and felony tampering with evidence in a plea deal. The sexual-assault count, the most serious charge, was a third-degree felony that could have led up to three years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine.

According to online court documents, Judge Albert Mitchell Jr. sentenced French to a total of 5 1/2 years of incarceration with 4 1/2 years suspended. He was given credit for time already served in the Quay County Detention Center since his arrest in September, leaving him with about two months remaining before his release.

French must pay court fees and costs and provide a DNA sample to the state’s criminal database. Upon his release, he would be on sex-offender probation for at least five years. He was ordered to not have any contact with the victim.

French also was ordered to make a $100 donation to the Quay County Domestic Violence Program.

Mitchell said if French didn’t properly register as a sex offender, he would go to prison because he’d be deemed a habitual offender. He was convicted of possession of marijuana in 2010 and burglary of a vehicle in 2011.

“I am not requiring treatment,” Mitchell told French, “but if you decided to get drunk again or take any drugs, you will go (to prison) for eight years. This is all up to you on this one.”

The original criminal complaint against French stated the offenses occurred on or about June 26 or 27, 2019, with a female victim. Agent Justin Tiemann of New Mexico State Police investigated the case.

French acknowledged in the plea deal he sexually assaulted the woman in a rural area of Quay County inside his vehicle.

French also tried to conceal his and her clothing in the trunk of his vehicle to prevent his prosecution, according to the plea deal.

An attempt to reach French’s attorney, Brett Phelps of Las Vegas, for comment was unsuccessful.