A Marion County mom who was caught having sex with her 15-year-old stepson last year was just sentenced to two years in jail after she negotiated a plea agreement and pled guilty to lesser charges, avoiding the possibility of over a decade behind bars.
On Tuesday, Alexis Von Yates was sentenced to two years in jail by Judge Timothy T. McCourt in the Fifth Judicial Circuit Court of Marion County.
Yates’ sentence will be followed by two years of sex offender community control and ten years of sex offender probation. She must also perform 200 hours of community service at the Marion County Solid Waste Litter Control, to be completed at a rate “no less than 16 hours per month,” within two years.
If Yates violates the terms of her supervision, she could receive up to fifteen years in prison.
On August 21, a negotiated plea agreement was submitted to the court. The agreement called for Yates to plead guilty to a lesser offense of lewd or lascivious battery on a child between 12 and 16.
In an order on the downward departure of the sentence, the court provided an explanation on the reduced sentence, citing the wishes of the victim and the victim’s mother to avoid going to trial.
During a proceeding in which the victim and his mother were interviewed, the family indicated that they were “one-hundred percent in agreement with the proposed sentence.”
“This court would not have accepted this plea agreement and imposed this sentence if the victim and his mother were not one-hundred percent in agreement with this course of action,” reads a portion of Judge McCourt’s order.
According to the Assistant State Attorney’s Office, the victim and his mother indicated that any desire they had to see Yates serve a longer sentence was “outweighed by their concern” for the child have to testify at a jury trial. The order states that the victim’s mother was worried that the trial “would have a severely negative effect on [the victim’s] mental and emotional health.”
“The Court was also advised that the victim’s mother felt that the victim would receive justice by not having to testify about this matter at a jury trial,” reads a portion of the order.
According to the court, if the matter had gone to trial, the victim would have had to testify per state law, which requires victims of sexual offenses to testify in the presence of defendants and be subjected to cross-examination.
Furthermore, the order states that the court would not have been required to clear the courtroom for the child’s testimony.
“When the victim of a sex offense is testifying, the court may be permitted to clear the courtroom of some persons, but may not remove the parties to the cause (i.e., state, defense counsel, and defendant), the immediate families of those persons, attorneys, officers of the court (i.e., bailiffs and clerks), jurors, court reporters, and newspaper reporters and broadcasters,” reads the order.
The court’s decision goes on to mention the “significant media attention” the case has garnered both locally and “nationally,” citing a television station’s decision to film Yates’ change-of-plea and sentencing proceedings.
“Most persons have never had to observe the adverse impact that testifying publicly can have on a child who is required to recount the most intimate and private details of their life in a jury trial. This court has had that opportunity and that adverse impact cannot be overstated. That impact would have been undoubtedly amplified in the instant case where the substance of the victim’s testimony would be made public in a profound, far-reaching, and permanent way,” reads the order.
The court also states that parts of the details of the victim’s life may have been “aired on nationally broadcast television programs and around the world over the internet.”
The order indicates that the plea agreement has provided a conviction of Yates, punishment, a designation as a sexual offender, and that the victim has been “spared the exposure, embarrassment, and re-traumatization that would result from being compelled to recount” the events of his life to a public jury.
Although the court could have made a finding that the sentence was not a sufficient punishment for the offense, the order indicates that the court was “not willing to risk the well-being of the victim in service of those ends,” citing agains that the victim and his mother were the “only people (other than the State and Defendant) with a constitutional right to be heard regarding this matter” and that they were in “one-hundred percent (100%) agreement with the proposed plea agreement and the disposition of this case.”
“Therefore, the Court has accepted this negotiated plea agreement and imposed a downward departure sentence as the product of a legitimate, uncoerced plea bargain,” reads the order.
The sentence comes just over thirteen and a half months after Yates was caught by her husband while she was having sex with her stepson.
In the weeks after the incident, the victim, who was 15 years old at the time, was pressured by family members not to divulge details to authorities. Accordingly, Yates was not arrested until several months later on November 6, 2024.
The victim is now 16 years old, according to court records.
Ocala-News.com first reported the arrest on December 5, 2024. Five days after that report, Yates pled not guilty to the charge.
Later that month, the Florida Department of Health issued an emergency order to suspend Yates’ nursing license. That was followed by a formal administrative complaint filed by the state seeking an order to permanently revoke Yates’ license at a later date.
In May, the testimony of the victim was deemed admissible by the court and last month, a relative and potential witness came forward to indicate that she had not been properly noticed for her deposition in the case. The docket shows a subsequent notice of taking deposition was filed shortly after that letter was received by the court.
According to state law, a charge of lewd and lascivious battery on a person 12 to 16 years of age by someone in familial custody is a second degree felony that is usually punishable by up to 15 years in prison, a $10,000 fine, and a lifetime registration on the state’s sexual offenders’ list.
In addition to the aforementioned conditions, Yates is not permitted to have contact with the victim, “indirect or directly,” during the “entire term of her sentence.” She also is adjudicated as a “sexual offender” and must register in Florida per state law.
Yates was remanded to Marion County Jail after her sentencing, according to court records.