By SANDRA K. REABUCK
EBENSBURG — Former television weatherman James Holcomb, who pleaded no contest four years ago to sexually abusing a young girl, got a delay in his sentencing Monday so that he can hire an expert to challenge a finding that he’s a sexually violent predator.
Holcomb, 43, who used the on-air name “Jay Patrick,” was scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Gerard Long on his no-contest pleas to aggravated indecent assault and two counts each of indecent assault and indecent exposure.
His sentencing originally was scheduled for 2005, but he fled the country and went to the Ukraine.
He was apprehended in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, in early March after U.S. marshals got a tip on his whereabouts.
He was returned to the United States and brought back to Cambria County to face both the sentencing and new, unrelated charges.
In April, he pleaded guilty to three charges stemming from his flight and seven for stealing and cashing checks from the Upper Yoder Township nursery where he had worked while awaiting sentencing.
On Monday, Judge Gerard Long agreed to delay the sentencing until Sept. 25 to give time for Dr. Robert Wettstein, a Pittsburgh psychiatrist, to examine Holcomb and prepare a report for the defense.
Brian Aston of Greensburg, the defendant’s attorney, revealed in the motion seeking a continuance that William Allenbaugh, a psychologist with the state Sexual Offender Assessment Board, has submitted a report finding that Holcomb is a sexually violent predator likely to commit the same offense again.
Under the state Megan’s law, it will be up to the judge to make the final determination whether Holcomb is a predator.
Under the law, the state psychologist takes a number of factors into consideration, including the facts of the crime and any behavioral characteristic of the defendant that contributes to the offender’s conduct.
Defendants determined to be sexually violent predators must register with the state police for life and their names and pictures are on the Megan’s law registry.
In the sex-abuse case, Holcomb was accused of sexually assaulting a girl over three years beginning in 2000 when she was 6 years old.
