Published: July 03, 2008 10:50 pm      

Hager pleads guilty to sex charges

Weeping uncontrollably in open court, a Richmond man admitted his guilt Thursday to a string of sexual misconduct charges involving children in the Madison County area and urged the judge to sentence him immediately.

“I want to get this over with,” Herbert Hager said as he reached for a box of tissue.

Hager, 31, of the 300 block of High Street, was sentenced to six years in prison on 10 counts of attempting to commit an unlawful transaction with a minor and 12 months in jail on two separate charges of stalking in the second degree by Judge Julie Milton Adams.

Hager, who was represented during the pretrial conference by public defender Scott West, waived his right to a trial by jury, the right to bring forth witnesses on his behalf and his right to an appeal.

“I don’t want an appeal,” Hager told Judge Adams.

Hager, who was first arrested in April of this year, initially pled not guilty to charges that he had approached and attempted to solicit sex from several minors in Richmond. The charges were filed with the Richmond Police Department after a middle school student told a teacher about his encounter with Hager.

“He started out asking them questions like, ‘What’s your name?’, ‘Where are you going?’ and ‘How old are you?’— inappropriate actions that adults should not be doing to kids,” Richmond Police Department Sgt. Willard Reardon said at the time of Hager’s arrest.

Just how inappropriate his actions were came to light as the description of his crimes were read aloud by Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Hall. Instead of stating an admission of guilt in his own words, Judge Adams ordered that Hager answer ‘yes’ to the questions set forth in the indictment.

With a quiet, “Yes”, Hager admitted that he approached several minors in 2007 and 2008 with the offer of money, and in some cases, drugs, in return for sexual contact. Reading off a list of charges, Hall said Hager had approached minor children under the age of 16 at various spots in downtown Richmond, including a pawn shop, CVS and the local public library.

“We state that you (Hager) approached a 14-year-old minor at Wade’s Pawn Shop, followed him out of the store, unzipped your pants and exposed yourself,” Hall read to Hager.

“Is that true?” the judge asked.

“Yes,” Hager said.

Hager also admitted to approaching children at the Madison County Public Library and attempting to engage them in sexual activity. One instance occurred when Hager approached a minor at the bike racks in front of the library and offered him $300 for oral sex, Hall said.

On another occasion, Hager followed a child to the library from the CVS Pharmacy on Main Street, “making sexual gestures,” Hall stated.

Another solicitation was made when Hager followed a minor male down the road as he was walking to Madison Middle School and “told him that you were going to molest him, asked him to allow you to molest him,” Hall stated in court.

“Is that true?” Adams asked.

“Yes,” Hager said.

Hager, who Adams said was competent to stand trial before the start of the hearing, was evaluated by state psychiatrist Dr. Amy Trivette on May 12 of this year. Trivette, a state employed psychiatrist, said Hager was “competent” to understand and participate in all legal proceedings.

Hager, whom the judge said was “very emotional” during the hearing, refused repeated offers from the judge to take a recess or confer with his lawyer. Instead, Hager insisted he wanted to plead guilty “for the charges I did.”

Hager admitted to all counts in the indictment.

As Judge Adams accepted Hager’s plea, West stepped in once again on the behalf of his client.

West said Hager felt as if he was “rotting in isolation” and that although West had “painted a grim picture” of sentencing in the case, Hager wanted to go forward with sentencing immediately, waiving all pre-sentencing hearings. West also expressed Hager’s need to get into a sexual offender program and suggested that he did not want to see Hager “slip into” a mental health situation.

“It would help me,” Hager said.

Hager’s sentences will run concurrently and he will bear an additional five years of probation after that sentence.

“You are going to also have to register as a sex offender,” Adams told Hager. “I’m going to order a sex offender evaluation and see that a DNA sample is given to the correctional department.”

Before being escorted from court, Adams said even after Hager’s prison sentence has concluded, he will have to “refrain from being around children, pornography” and all the other terms which come with being a convicted sexual predator.