Under that law, a defendant convicted of any solicitation prior to Dec. 1, 1999 is not required to register as a sex offender.

His guilty plea is a class J felony, which in today&squo;s terms, a class J felony&bsp; no longer exists. But solicitation to take indecent liberties with a minor today is&bsp; a felony and does require sex offender registration.

Abril was originally charged with five counts of statutory rape of a child and one count of sexual offense on a child for incidents occuring between 1987 and 1989 on two girls, ages 10 and 11 at the time. Those charges could have resulted in a life sentence if convicted.

Abril reached a deal to reduce the charges through a plea agreement. He was sentenced to 120 days of electronically monitored house arrest and five years of probation, with the first three being supervised. Abril also received a two year jail sentence that was suspended for those five years. If Abril violates his probation terms, he could serve his full two-year sentence.

Abril received a harsher sentence for solicitation than is normally given in North Carolina courts. Normally someone convicted of solicitation to take indecent liberties with a minor would receive a suspended jail sentence and a few years of probation, but no house arrest.

During court Monday, prosecutors said that the two victims in the case were satisfied with the plea agreement , as one of the main objectives for the victims was for Abril to admit that he had committed the crimes.