Published: Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Granite Falls man pleads guilty to assaulting postal carrier
A man who pleaded guilty to assault charges will spend one day in jail and 29 days on electric home monitoring.
EVERETT — A Granite Falls man was sentenced Tuesday to a day in jail and 29 days on electronic home monitoring for assaulting a postal carrier who was delivering his mail in 2008.
A jury in September acquitted Gary Balmert Jr. of second-degree rape. Jurors couldn’t reach a verdict on two lesser charges, including third-degree rape and indecent liberties.
Balmert, 34, later pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation, a gross misdemeanor. Balmert wrote in court papers that he thought the woman wanted him to touch her but “it is clear to me now that she did not.”
The maximum sentence under the state sentencing guidelines is one year in jail. Balmert didn’t have any previous criminal history.
Balmert was accused of assaulting the woman after she came to his home to deliver a certified letter.
The woman, 32, told police that she gave Balmert the letter and was walking back to her vehicle when he asked her to return. She told investigators she thought he wanted to continue their conversation about dogs, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Halley Hupp wrote in court papers.
The woman said she stepped inside the Balmert’s house and he quickly blocked her exit, grabbed her arms and assaulted her, according to court documents.
Balmert told police he and the woman had flirted on different occasions. He told investigators the sexual contact with the woman was consensual, Hupp wrote in the charging papers.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
A jury in September acquitted Gary Balmert Jr. of second-degree rape. Jurors couldn’t reach a verdict on two lesser charges, including third-degree rape and indecent liberties.
Balmert, 34, later pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation, a gross misdemeanor. Balmert wrote in court papers that he thought the woman wanted him to touch her but “it is clear to me now that she did not.”
The maximum sentence under the state sentencing guidelines is one year in jail. Balmert didn’t have any previous criminal history.
Balmert was accused of assaulting the woman after she came to his home to deliver a certified letter.
The woman, 32, told police that she gave Balmert the letter and was walking back to her vehicle when he asked her to return. She told investigators she thought he wanted to continue their conversation about dogs, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Halley Hupp wrote in court papers.
The woman said she stepped inside the Balmert’s house and he quickly blocked her exit, grabbed her arms and assaulted her, according to court documents.
Balmert told police he and the woman had flirted on different occasions. He told investigators the sexual contact with the woman was consensual, Hupp wrote in the charging papers.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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