Nold pleads guilty

After pleading guilty Wednesday to using the internet to entice a child, Ronald Nold’s request to have his bond reinstated so he could get out of jail was denied.

The bond was revoked after the 65-year-old Hayden man failed at a suicide attempt on the eve of a hearing last month in Coeur d’Alene’s First District Court, where he was expected to plead guilty.

Nold entered guilty pleas to two counts Wednesday including enticing a child by using the internet, which carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence, and a felony enhancement that could kick the penalty to life behind bars.

The charges stem from a police sting last summer in which an officer posing as a teenage boy agreed to meet Nold for sex at a Coeur d’Alene hotel. Nold, a registered sex offender who according to court records had been compliant since serving time for an Oregon sodomy conviction in the 1990s, was arrested when he arrived at the hotel.

A plea agreement calls for a five-year fixed prison sentence, allowing prosecutors to argue for more prison time at Nold’s June 5 sentencing.

Nold appeared shaky and disheveled at Wednesday’s hearing, wearing shackles and jail clothes. He held his hands close to his chest and walked by slipping his feet along the floor.

He answered, “Yes, sir,” in a weak voice to each question District Judge John Mitchell asked.

Through his attorney, Scott D. Nass, Nold asked to have his $150,000 bond reinstated so he could go home.

Nass said his client shouldn’t have to wait in jail for 60 days until sentencing. Nold wasn’t a flight risk, he said, and had many affiliations and ties to the community, including the local Eagles club.

The bond was revoked for Nold’s safety after the suicide attempt, Nass said.

“It was an ill-conceived attempt; he recognizes that,” Nass said.

His client is under psychiatric care, and, “is back at being stable,” Nass said.

Mitchell denied the request after learning Nold had no place to stay outside jail. Mitchell said he would keep Nold on house arrest if he were released, and Mitchell would need assurance Nold had no internet access, the judge said.

“At this time I’m going to deny the request,” Mitchell said.