Online sexual predator found guilty on 10 of 36 counts Lewd conduct with 12-year-old girl

Jurors announced a partial verdict today in the case of a Saratoga man accused of having a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl he met on the Internet: They found Anthony Uckele guilty on ten counts of lewd conduct with a child, but they were struggling to reach agreement on 26 more charges.
Judge Paul R. Bernal sent the jurors home early today and asked them to resume deliberating Thursday morning in Santa Clara County Superior Court. Four of the 12 jurors told the judge they don't think they will be able to agree on the remaining charges, but eight said they think a verdict is still possible.
Authorities say Uckele, a former West Valley College student, had sex with the girl numerous times in the course of a seven-month relationship, which began in 2005 when Uckele saw her MySpace page and sent her an electronic message. At the time, Uckele was 22 but listed his age on MySpace as 16. The girl was 12 and testified that she listed her age as two or three years older.
But the girl, whose name is being withheld to protect her privacy, testified that both admitted their true ages within a short time after they first met, and before they had sexual intercourse. Defense attorney Richard Pointer has said his client admitted having sex with the girl twice, but suggested that she has exaggerated the number of times.
In the verdicts returned today,jurors found that two of the lewd acts involved "substantial sexual conduct," while the others did not.Uckele faces up to 26 years in prison for the charges on which he was convicted today. the additional counts could bring the maximum sentence to 78 years. Prosecutor Jim Shore has said Uckele also approached other underage girls online, although the charges involve only the one victim.
The jury began deliberating last week but had to start over on Tuesday after the judge replaced an ill juror with an alternate. At the jury's request, Bernal said he will have some of the girl's testimony read back to them on Thursday.