Man Who Gassed Jail Officers, Followed Teen From Mall Sentenced

SANTA ROSA, CA — A Santa Rosa man was sentenced Tuesday in Sonoma County Superior Court to nine years in prison for attempted sexual assault of a woman, battery on custodial officers and other charges. Nicholas Planty, 43, a registered sex offender on parole, followed a 19-year-old woman home from the Coddingtown Mall on July 9, 2016.

The woman ran to a neighbor's apartment and was let inside, but Planty tried to force his way into the apartment, according to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office.

Police responded and found Planty on the neighbor's front porch looking inside the apartment through a window. Planty told the officer the woman caught his eye and he wanted to ask her for a cigarette. During a search, a police officer found Planty had a full pack of cigarettes and a lighter, prosecutors said.

While in jail waiting for his trial on attempted sexual assault and trespassing, Planty "gassed" custodial officers by throwing feces at them. He has prior convictions for lewd and lascivious conduct with a child, felony battery on a peace officer and felony gassing of a custodial officer,
according to the district attorney's office.

Planty pleaded no contest in June to charges of attempted sexual battery, attempted trespassing, peeping inside an inhabited dwelling and five felony counts of battery by gassing.

—Bay City News Service