Actor’s Sentencing in Molestation Delayed

A judge on Wednesday delayed sentencing television actor and Ojai resident James Stacy on a felony child molestation charge because probation officials have not completed their sentencing report.

Stacy--whose real name is Maurice W. Elias--faces a maximum sentence of eight years in prison for molesting the 11-year-old daughter of friends visiting his house. He pleaded no contest to that charge, as well as to a misdemeanor prowling charge.

While out on bail, Stacy fled to Hawaii and skipped his original sentencing date last month, prompting acting Superior Court Judge Steven Hintz to issue a warrant for his arrest.

Stacy, 59, was arrested in Hawaii after an apparent suicide attempt and was returned to Ventura County, where he remains jailed without bail.

Stacy, who lost his left arm and left leg in a motorcycle accident in 1973, was wheeled into court by a fellow inmate.

Hintz set sentencing for Jan. 10.

Stacy starred in the television western “Lancer” in the late 1960s and appeared on television as recently as 1986, when he played a Vietnam veteran on an episode of “Cagney and Lacey.”