DADE CITY - A 51-year-old nudist from Land O' Lakes, charged with sexual battery on an 8-year-old girl, pleaded no contest to a lesser charge Monday, even though he maintained the accusations stemmed from inadvertent contact with the girl during a massage.
Jullian Delroy Carpenter, of 7701 St. Luke Road, changed his plea because he feared the mandatory life sentence that accompanies a conviction of sexual battery on a child, assistant public defender William K. Eble said.
Carpenter was arrested in October and charged with two counts of sexual battery in connection with his contact with two 8-year-old girls. In November, one of the charges was reduced to handling and fondling.
The attacks reportedly took place in a private home not affiliated with a nudist resort.
On Monday, Circuit Judge Wayne L. Cobb sentenced him to 3 l/2 years in prison on two handling and fondling charges after the sexual batter charge was reduced.
"I had no intention of fondling the kids," Carpenter told Cobb. He said all he did was give the girls a massage, which one of the youngsters asked him to do repeatedly.
Assistant State Attorney Jack Jordan said the girls took off their own clothes and one of them asked for the massage. According to a probably-cause affidavit filed after Carpenter's arrest, Carpenter admitted that in the process of the massage, his genitals may have touch the girls.
Sexual battery of a child under 12 by a person over age 18 carries a mandatory life in prison sentence.