Johnny Dewayne Dowling, 38, of Pahrump, was ordered last Monday to serve five months' probation, with a one-and-a-half- to four-year prison sentence hanging over his head, for indecent or obscene exposure with a prior conviction of the same.

In addition, Dowling will have to register as a sex offender and have no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 16.

Dowling actually has no prior conviction on the charge but agreed to plea guilty to the myth as part of a plea agreement he entered into with the state last month.

The category D felony is a lesser charge than the original charge Dowling was facing of sexually assaulting a child under the age of 14, to which Dowling pleaded not guilty in December 2006.

The state agreed to enter into the plea agreement due to evidence uncovered during the course of proceedings that the allegations leveled against Dowling were not entirely founded.

For example, a state-ordered examination of the alleged victim was inconsistent with her allegations of sexual assault.

There were also inconsistencies with the victim's statements about what had actually occurred.

As such, the state deemed it more appropriate to charge Dowling with exposure charge.