AUBURN – The Nemaha County Attorney’s Office has dropped sexual assault charges against 22-year-old Joseph Larner of Auburn.

An arrest affidavit says a Nemaha County sheriff’s deputy was dispatched Feb. 24 after a woman claimed was threatened with a baseball bat and assaulted. At preliminary hearing in county court, a deputy testified that deputies overheard a telephone conversation between Larner and the victim.

Larner entered no contest pleas Wednesday to misdemeanor charges of obstruction of a peace officer and domestic assault.

Sentencing is set Aug. 14.

 

AUBURN – Joseph Larner, 43, of Auburn was bound over to district court Tuesday for arraignment on charges including first degree sexual assault and tampering with a witness.

At a preliminary hearing in Nemaha County Court, Sheriff Deputy Eli Davidson described events after he was dispatched to an M Street residence in Auburn where a woman told him she had been assaulted, raped and threatened.

While deputies were interviewing the woman at the sheriff’s office, she received a phone call from Larner. The deputy testified that Larner told the woman that he was sorry for what had happened and that she was his only way out of jail. He promised to pay for her tore gown and would fix her hair if she would only help him get out of jail.

Defense attorney Oluseyi Olowolafe cross examined Davidson for details about why the woman waited 24 hours to call the sheriff’s office, why she had no visible facial injuries and why the sheriff’s office did not offer her a medical examination.

Deputy Nemaha County Attorney Morgan Ritchie said Larner took the woman’s cell phone so she could not call earlier. She questioned Davidson about a metal baseball bat and hair that had been pulled from the woman’s scalp.

Davidson said the phone call at the sheriff’s office was put on speaker. He said Larner promised to get rid of the metal bat and deputies found the bat in some bushes near the old Amigos Restaurant near J Street.

Davidson said the woman told investigators that she feared for her life and made sure that Larner understood she was not giving consent to sex.

Judge Rick Smith set an April 24 arraignment.