A 22-year-old Lexington man was sentenced Monday in Dawson County District Court following his conviction to an amended charge of Attempted Sexual Assault by Use of Electronic Communication Device.
It stems from an investigation that culminated on July 23, 2025 when Jesus Sanchez-Ramirez was arrested after authorities say he attempted to have sex with who he believed was an underage girl.
An arrest affidavit says that Lexington Police were contacted by the Hastings Police Department.
An officer in Hastings who was posing as a 14-year-old girl, told Lexington authorities that a man identified as Sanchez-Ramirez sent sexually explicit messages to her.
The Hastings officer arranged to meet Sanchez-Ramirez at Pioneer Park in Lexington.
The affidavit says when he arrived, he was placed into custody.
Court records say he admitted to sending the messages and officers observed the messages on his phone.
Both Dawson County Attorney and Defense attorney agreed to a joint recommendation that Sanchez-Ramirez be sentenced to a minimum of 5 years imprisonment to a maximum of 5 years imprisonment.
Through an interpreter, Sanchez-Ramirez apologized for his actions and pledged to never do it again.
District Judge Chawnta Durham sentenced Sanchez-Ramirez to a minimum of 5 years imprisonment to a maximum of 5 years imprisonment. He was given credit for 299 days already served in the Dawson County Jail and ordered to register as a sex offender for 25 years upon release from prison.
Lexington businessman Michael Lonowski was sentenced in an investigation involving the use of a minor to sell marijuana. Both Lonowski and 28-year-old Mikayla Schooley was arrested last year on charges of Distribution of Marijuana to a Minor, Use of a Minor to Distribute Marijuana and Felony Child Abuse.
The 62-year-old Lonowski recently pled no contest to a reduced charge of Distribution of Marijuana. Charges of Use of a Minor to Distribute Marijuana and Child Abuse were dismissed in a plea agreement.
In comments at Monday’s sentencing hearing, Defense Attorney Brian Davis said his client did have his past but, had put a lot of that behind him. Davis says that over the years he’s known Lonowski to bond out others and “he’s always tried to help people that he thought were in need.”
Davis said that while his client was not actively distributing marijuana to the minor he acknowledged providing some of the marijuana to Miss Schooley to give to them but, did not directly give the marijuana to any minor children.
Given the opportunity to speak, Lonowski said he apologized for “bringing this burden on the court” he also acknowledged that they were things he “should have and could have done to keep this from occurring”.
District Judge Durham sentenced Lonowski to 24 months of intensive probation. She told Lonowski that she did not include any jail time because if there were a later conviction or admission of probation violation, she would re-sentence him on the Felony charge as if he had never been placed on probation.
The arrests stem from an investigation that was opened in early September last year by the Lexington Police Department. Investigators were looking into an unrelated incident when they came across electronic evidence of distribution of marijuana to high school students. Police reports indicate that from about July 2, 2025 through September 21, 2025 Schooley is alleged to have used a child, under the age of 18, to distribute Marijuana to other students on several occasions. Lonowski is alleged to have been aware of Marijuana transactions between Schooley and the minor, and helped facilitate those transactions taking place at his Lexington business.
Earlier this year, Schooley pled guilty to Distributing Marijuana to a Minor, Use of a Minor to Distribute Marijuana and Child Abuse. Sentencing on those charges were deferred on her admission to the Midwest Nebraska Drug Court program. Her bond was amended to require “full compliance with and completion of the Drug Court Program.
Excuse me?!
A former inmate in the Dawson County Jail was sentenced Monday following conviction of Assault by a Confined Person, a Class IIIa Felony punishable by up to 3 years imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine.
After a no contest plea was accepted by the Court, a Deputy Dawson County Attorney summarized the case saying that on January 8, 2026, the subject was being housed as an inmate in the Dawson County Jail on unrelated charges. He was being held in a temporary holding cell in the booking area with another inmate occupying the same cell.
As a correctional officer was entering the area, they observed the subject punching the victim inmate. They were then separated. The deputy county attorney continued that the correctional officer asked the victim inmate how the incident got started. The victim inmate said the subject got upset because he(the victim inmate) “farted and did not say excuse me.”
In a subsequent interview the subject “corroborated” the victim’s account of the incident. The subject indicated he became upset that the victim inmate did not say excuse me, so he assaulted him.
The subject was fined $2,000 along with assessed court costs, processing fees and the case was closed.
