Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CLOVIS — A Curry County jury on Thursday found a Clovis man guilty of child solicitation by electronic device, according to a news release from 9th Judicial District Attorney Andrea Reeb.
Benjamin Lerman, 43, a senior master sergeant at Cannon Air Force Base, was sentenced to three years in the New Mexico Department of Corrections, with 1 1/2 years suspended, the release said.
Following his release, he will serve five to 20 years of “intensive supervised probation and will be required to register as a sex offender for 10 years,” the release said.
Lerman’s attorney, Gary Mitchell of Ruidoso, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Cannon spokesman J.P. Rebello said questions should be referred to civilian prosecutors.
"We continue to support our civilian law enforcement and judicial authorities," he wrote in a text message.
In November of 2015, Lerman began electronic communications with what he thought was a 15-year-old girl, officials said.
“(He) ... had actually been communicating with an undercover Sheriff’s deputy,” Reeb's news release said.
He was arrested March 20, 2016, when he arrived at North Plains Mall for a meeting prosecutors alleged he had set up “to have sexual interactions with the juvenile,” the news release said.
The jury deliberated about 90 minutes before returning the guilty verdict.
