CASSOPOLIS – A Dowagiac man will have to register as a sex offender and spend time in jail and on probation after pleading no contest to criminal sexual conduct against a 15-year-old girl last summer.

Austin John Narovich, 20, of East Division Street in Dowagiac, pleaded no contest to assault with intent to commit sexual penetration and was sentenced Friday in Cass Circuit Court to five years of probation, 210 days in jail, will be added to the sex offender registry and must pay $1,358 in fines and costs. He has credit for 41 days already served.

The incident occurred Aug. 14, 2017, at a residence in Dowagiac. The victim reported to police that she was there with Narovich, another young woman and another young man and had had seven or eight shots of vodka.

She said she woke up with Narovich on top of her and tried to push him off. She later went to Lakeland Hospital in Niles and reported she had been raped.

The girl’s mother read a letter from the girl before the sentencing. The girl wrote that she has felt uncomfortable going out in public since the incident.

“I think there should be consequences,” the girl wrote. “It’s unfair what I’ve been going through.”

Assistant Prosecutor Karl Borsma asked for a sentence of a year in jail, which defense attorney Tat Parish called “excessive” and “overkill” and doing more harm than good. Narovich said he should have known at the time that the girl was underage.

“When I look at this event and your history of substance abuse, I feel additional jail is warranted,” said Cass County Circuit Judge Mark Herman.

Other sentencings:

A contractor who in two separate incidents resisted and obstructed police and did not finish roof work he was paid for was placed on probation and ordered to make restitution.

Billie Hugh Sikes, Jr., 39, of Napier Avenue in Benton Harbor, pleaded guilty to resisting and obstructing police and larceny by conversion over $1,000 and was sentenced to two years’ probation, $5,300 in restitution and $2,636 in fines and costs. He has credit for three days served.

The resisting and obstructing incident occurred Jan. 15 in Penn Township when he began kicking police after being arrested. The other incident occurred July 10, 2017, at a residence in Silver Creek Township. Sikes had been given $5,300 to do roof work and did not return the money when he did not complete the work.

Judge Herman noted that the two felony charges would have been reduced to misdemeanors if Sikes had been able to pay $2,650 by Friday. Herman noted that while the victims in the roof work incident wanted Sikes to spend time in jail, doing so would reduce his chances of keeping his job and paying restitution.

• A Dowagiac woman will get the chance to get her life in order and keep a felony off her record if she successfully completes a probation term for possession of methamphetamine.

Crystal Ann Gonzalez, 36, of Amerihost Drive in Dowagiac, pleaded guilty to possession of meth and was placed on three years of probation including 107 days in jail and $1,968 in fines and costs. She has credit for 17 days already served and will serve the rest of her jail term in the Twin County Probation Program.

The incident occurred Dec. 28 when police came to her home in Dowagiac and found evidence of methamphetamine.

“I just do not understand why people are involved in drugs when they have children,” Herman said. “You’re a role model for your children, and you can be either