Man pleads guilty to assault of a child

ST JOHN – Joshua Coniber, 40, St. John, pleaded guilty Friday to assault of a child in the third degree and assault fourth degree.

Coniber was booked into jail here April 23, 2019, on probable charges of unlawful imprisonment and rape of a child after being interviewed at the sheriff's office about the allegations. He was charged April 26, 2019, with child rape and five counts of child molestation.

Charges against Coniber were filed after investigation of a report relayed to officers from a school counselor. The charges involved a girl in the 14-16 age bracket and the time frames for the allegations was from Dec. 2018 to June 2019.

Trial had been set for June 2019, but Coniber failed to appear for a readiness hearing and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Charges were changed to assault of a child in the third degree, fourth degree assault and four charges of child molestation in the third degree. The child molestation charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement.

Coniber was assigned an offender score of one and sentenced to jail for eight months for the first count and 364 days for the second charge.