Eastman eligible for parole

JAMIE EASTMAN

BY STACI WILSON

After spending most of the past year behind bars, the first woman charged by the state’s Child Predator Unit is eligible for parole.

Jamie Nicole Eastman, 20, of Great Bend,              received an 11 1/2 month sentence, with credit for time served, by President Judge Kenneth Seamans Thursday in the Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas. She was also placed on probation for the next 14 years as part of her sentence.

She has been held in the county jail on $75,000 bail since her Dec. 30, 2009 arrest. Bail was reduced to $50,000 in March but Eastman was never able to post bond.

Eastman and her boyfriend Duane Anderson, 34, were charged with luring a teenage girl over the internet for sexual purposes. The two had actually been communicating with an undercover agent from the Child Predator Unit.

Police arrested the couple when they arrived at a meeting time and location they had designated in Montrose.

Eastman pleaded guilty to felony counts of unlawful contact with a minor – sexual purposes and criminal use of a communication facility on Oct. 1.

The Sexual Offenders Assessment Board found that she did not meet the criteria of a sexually violent offender.

However, Eastman’s guilty plea subjects her to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law for the next 10 years.

Eastman’s attorney Patrick Daly told the court the young woman had been experiencing family difficulties when she met Anderson over the internet and moved to the area to be with him.

Daly said Eastman, who was 19 at the time of the incident, had become uncomfortable in her relationship with Anderson at the time of the incident but felt she had no where else she could go.

“She’s not looking to deny her conduct,” said the defense attorney, “but this was not something she cooked up on her own.”

Daly also said that since her arrest, Eastman has reestablished ties with her family and both her parents have agreed to allow her to move into their homes.

Daly said, “She understands the gravity of what it would have been it was an actual 13-year-old girl.”

Other than answers to direct yes or no questions from the judge, Eastman did not speak at the sentencing.

After he issued the sentence, Judge Seamans said, “You’re probably a lot better person than these actions reflect.”