A Clark County Jail inmate who was accused of sexually assaulting a fellow inmate was sentenced Wednesday to 1 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to several charges, including a misdemeanor assault charge without sexual motivation.
Navin Phathanasack, 39, entered Newton pleas to possession of methamphetamine, a felony, and fourth-degree assault and attempted unlawful imprisonment, both misdemeanors. The plea allows a defendant to acknowledge that a jury could find him guilty of those crimes but not admit to guilt; it is treated as a guilty plea.
All of the crimes occurred in the Clark County Jail. He was sentenced to 18 months on the drug conviction and 364 days, with all time suspended for two years, on the misdemeanors. His sentence will run concurrent with a 2017 case, in which he was sentenced to the residential drug-offender sentencing alternative, or DOSA. Phathanasack will also serve a year of community custody.
On April 22, the victim reported to jail staff that he had been assaulted by three other inmates over the past two days. He later told investigators that some other inmates believed he may have smuggled drugs into the jail and wanted to take them from him, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Three inmates, including Phathanasack, confronted him in a cell. Phathanasack and another inmate held the victim’s arms and pinned his feet to the ground while a third inmate repeatedly struck the victim in the back, the affidavit says.
The victim said that the assailants later cornered him in a confined area and ordered him to remove his pants and underwear so they could check them for drugs. He said he was subsequently sexually assaulted, court records state.
Jail surveillance footage shows several other inmates standing in a line, forming a wall on an upper level of the jail pod to shield bunks from view. The victim is seen sitting on a bed with other inmates next to him and one inmate hitting him, according to court documents.
Phathanasack and the two other alleged assailants denied assaulting the victim.
Phathanasack was originally charged with second-degree rape, but the charge was amended as part of his plea deal.
His defense attorney, Katie Kauffman, explained that the reason for the plea deal was in part due to credibility issues with the victim.
The victim allegedly made phone calls while in the jail indicating that he made up the sexual assault in order to sue the county and had leveled a similar allegation against another inmate the day prior. Witnesses also reportedly said there was no sexual assault but that a fight broke out between the victim and a different inmate, Kauffman said.
