A New Ringgold man must be subject to Megan’s Law sanctions for 15 years, a Schuylkill County judge decided Monday.
However, Dylan A. Bachert, 21, is not a sexually violent predator, Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin ruled in accordance with the recommendation of the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board.
As a result, Bachert will not be subject to lifetime sanctions.
The Megan’s Law sanctions will require Bachert to provide his name, address, employment, any schools he might attend, registration of any vehicles he owns and other information to the state police. Any violation of the sanctions would be an additional crime and subject Bachert to further prosecution.
Bachert pleaded no contest on Dec. 9, 2015, to corruption of minors. At that time, Dolbin sentenced him to serve three to 12 months in prison, pay costs and $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account, undergo the board’s evaluation and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities.
West Penn Township police charged Bachert with having sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl at 10 p.m. March 3, 2015, at a house in Andreas. Police said the girl told them of the incident.
By pleading no contest, Bachert did not admit committing the crime, but offered no defense to the charge, agreed prosecutors could produce enough evidence to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and agreed to be sentenced as if he had pleaded or been found guilty.
Megan’s Law was enacted in Pennsylvania, numerous other states and at the federal level after the July 29, 1994, murder of Megan Nicole Kanka, 7, in Hamilton Township, New Jersey.
Jesse Timmendequas, Kanka’s killer, was one of her neighbors and a twice-convicted sex offender. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after New Jersey enacted legislation to abolish the death penalty in that state.