A Rigby man who earlier this year admitted he would have engaged in sexual intercourse with an underage girl escaped a 15-year maximum prison sentence on Monday.

Instead, 38-year-old Russell S. Tolbert was sentenced to 10 years of probation and won’t even have to register as a sex offender after being arrested in a Chubbuck police sex sting operation.

Sixth District Judge Rick Carnaroli issued the sentence on Monday at the Bannock County Courthouse in Pocatello after Tolbert’s attorney successfully argued that Tolbert deserved leniency because he was receiving treatment for his pornography and sexual addictions from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Bannock County prosecutors said.

Tolbert was arrested by Chubbuck police in January and charged with felony enticing a child through the internet after using Facebook to try and meet with who he thought was a girl under the age of 16 to engage in sexual activity. Tolbert was actually communicating via Facebook with Chubbuck police.

But Tolbert agreed to a plea bargain with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of felony injury to a child in April. Unlike if he had been convicted of child enticement, being convicted of felony injury to a child means Tolbert will not have to register as a sex offender.

Carnaroli delivered the sentence of probation despite prosecutors recommending Tolbert serve prison time in the form of a “rider” program in which the judge would retain jurisdiction on Tolbert’s sentence for up to one year while he completed a rehabilitation program in the custody of the Idaho Department of Correction. In that scenario, whether Tolbert successfully completed the state rehabilitation program would have determined his eventual sentence.

Making Monday’s sentence even more unusual is that Tolbert never finished a pre-sentencing psychosexual evaluation, prosecutors said. The evaluation would determine what type of treatment Tolbert would require and how amenable he would be to the treatment.

Carnaroli did not immediately return the Journal’s request for comment on the sentence he gave Tolbert.

Chubbuck Police Chief Bill Guiberson told the Journal on Monday that in October 2017 Tolbert initiated contact with a Facebook user he believed was an underage girl. Guiberson said the Facebook user’s account was actually operated by the Chubbuck Police Department.

In a message sent to the Facebook user he believed was the girl, Tolbert asked, “Can I be ur sugar daddy” which was followed by “Dam ur sexy,” according to Chubbuck police.

Over the next several months, Tolbert sent several messages to the Facebook user he thought was the girl, some of which went into explicit detail as to what type of sexual activity Tolbert was seeking. Tolbert also sent photographs of himself to the account, according to police.

The Chubbuck police officers operating the account planned a meeting with Tolbert at a local park. When Tolbert showed up, the police officers made contact with him and asked him what he was doing at the park. He initially told police he was meeting an LDS official at a nearby church to install security cameras. He later said he was checking the nearby LDS church out for a place to put a camera and that he would be in contact with the LDS official at a later date.

Police took Tolbert into custody at the park and brought him to the Chubbuck police station for further questioning.

While at the police station Tolbert “stated that he knew he was wrong because he felt guilty for leaving his pregnant wife and four kids at home in order to engage in contact with another female,” according to police.

During his sentencing hearing, Bannock County prosecutors said Tolbert has a primary lust for teenage girls as well as a lust for young children, more so than he does for adult women.

Prosecutors also argued that Tolbert has tendencies to groom or manipulate underage girls into engaging in sexual activity with him.

Prosecutors said Tolbert admitted that had he met with the underage girl he believed he was communicating with via Facebook he would have engaged in sexual activity with her.

Moreover, Tolbert admitted that he has struggled with sexual issues for the last 20 years and that his wife has known about his behavior, adding that in 2010 he participated in treatment for his sexual behavior with the LDS Church, authorities said. Tolbert said he quit attending that treatment after two months and he only participated in order to make his wife happy, prosecutors said.

Tolbert retained attorney Kent Reynolds of Pocatello to provide his legal defense. Prosecutors said that Reynolds argued that in addition to receiving treatment from the LDS Church, Tolbert’s wife has placed restrictions on Tolbert’s cell phone and internet access. Tolbert’s wife will maintain possession of Tolbert’s cell phone and has placed a password on the device that Tolbert does not know, according to prosecutors.

Reynolds also argued that Tolbert’s arrest was a huge wake-up call, adding that Tolbert could not care for his family or business if he was sentenced to serve prison time, prosecutors said.

Aside from the felony he was sentenced for on Monday, a misdemeanor conviction for malicious injury to property nearly 20 years ago and several traffic infractions, Tolbert has no other criminal history.

The Chubbuck Police Department encourages children to never communicate with anyone they do not know personally, both online or in person. Further, the Police Department recommends children notify an adult immediately if someone they do not know attempts to contact them.