A Hobbs man with two prior sex convictions has been sentenced for his third offense, according to the Lea County Sheriff’s Office.
A Hobbs man was sentenced on Sept. 30 to 15 years after being found guilty of two counts of criminal sexual penetration in the second degree.
Jesse Ray Taylor, 44, of Hobbs was found guilty of the two counts on July 25, 2019. He will serve 10 years of incarceration and have five additional years suspended as well as parole and probation.
Taylor is already a registered sex offender in Lea County and will be required to continue his lifetime registration upon release from N.M. Corrections.
On Dec. 5, 2016, Lea County Sheriff’s investigators traveled to Odessa, Texas, to interview a 15-year-old female sexual assault victim concerning an incident at a party on Dec. 3, 2016, in Hobbs. On Dec. 16, 2016, Taylor was arrested by the LCSO and charged with two counts of criminal sexual penetration, a third-degree felony. He was detained at the Lea County Detention Center and released on Dec. 17, 2016, on a $50,000 cash surety bond.
On July 23, 2019, the District Attorney’s office amended the charges from a third-degree felony to a second-degree felony.
On July 25, 2019, he was found guilty by a jury at District Court in Lovington of those two counts.
The Sheriff’s Office said Taylor had a prior sex conviction in Colorado on June 30, 1998, for sexual assault on a child. His prior New Mexico conviction was on Feb. 24, 2004, for criminal sexual penetration, a third degree.
