SIMI VALLEY : 6-Month Sentence in Molestation

A hearing-impaired Simi Valley man was sentenced Tuesday to six months in County Jail for molesting a 9-year-old girl last year.

Eric J. Bowers, 20, pleaded no contest Jan. 21 to molesting the girl in his bedroom in September, while she was visiting his home with her family.

At his sentencing hearing Tuesday, Bowers’ attorney, Nancy D. Aronson, said her client’s emotional development had been hampered by his deafness. She said he is in therapy and “has made tremendous strides” in dealing with his problems.

She asked Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. to sentence Bowers to community service rather than jail.

Although the charge carries a maximum term of eight years in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary K. Barrett said he did not think it was a prison case. But he argued for at least the six months recommended by the county Probation Department and said a year in jail would not be too harsh.

“He is extremely self-centered about his own victimization,” Barrett said, cautioning the court not to give Bowers undue sympathy because of his hearing problems.

Describing the case as “extremely serious,” Campbell said the recommended term of 180 days was “a very reasonable sentence.”