NILES — A Niles man charged with attempting to accost a child for immoral purposes will serve probation time for the crime.

Jesse Aaron Krugler, of the 10 block of River Street, pleaded guilty as charged on Dec. 11, 2017.

Judge Charles LaSata ordered that he be sentenced to five years of probation, two days in jail, with credit for two days served. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender. Krugler received the sentence Monday morning in Berrien County court by Judge Charles LaSata.

The crime occurred on May 25, 2017. The victim reported the incident to police on June 13, 2017. Krugler’s attorney, Paul Jancha, said his client entered into a plea that he would not receive jail time for the crime. The plea was accepted by Judge Angela Pasula of Dec. 11, 2017. Pasula now serves the Berrien County Courthouse in St. Joseph. LaSata took over court in Niles Jan. 1.

LaSata referred to Krugler’s crime as “troubling.” He said he would honor the plea, but warned Krugler that if he did not obey probationary guidelines that he could face time in prison.

“You better do things exactly right on probation,” LaSata said. “I don’t play around with probation. Be careful on probation. It is not meant to track. It is meant to rehabilitate.”

Also on Monday, a homeless Buchanan man who was sentenced in August returned to court to be re-sentenced after it was noted that his sentence did not include lifetime electronic monitoring.

Victor Aranda, 29, was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and pleaded guilty to the charges on July 31. He was sentenced Aug. 28, 2017, by Judge Pasula, who ordered that he be committed to a minimum of 22 years to a maximum of 70 years in prison. In addition, LaSata ordered Monday that Aranda be on lifetime GPS monitoring, should he ever be eligible for parole.

The charges stemmed from evidence that Aranda sexually abused a child for six years. 

Aranda has credit for 215 days served.