Former Carson City deputy public defender receives maximum sentence in molestation case
Adam Lawson Woodrum pled no contest to two counts of felony lewdness with a child June 30, 2025” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.carsonnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/woodrum-scaled.jpeg?fit=300%2C234&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.carsonnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/woodrum-scaled.jpeg?fit=780%2C609&ssl=1″ />
Former Carson City deputy public defender Adam Lawson Woodrum received the maximum sentence in his molestation case according to an attorney familiar with the case. He will serve 8 – 20 years in prison for the charges of felony lewdness (molestation) with a child under the age of 16.
Woodrum was sentenced Friday after previously pleading ‘no contest’ to two counts of lewdness with a child under 16 on June 30. Essentially, a no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to win at trial.
Following entering his no contest plea, he was remanded into jail custody to await sentencing. The August hearing was pushed out until Friday’s sentencing took place.
Douglas County Judge Thomas Gregory has presided over the case in Carson City due to conflicts tied to Woodrum’s prior employment in Carson City’s justice system.
The case was prosecuted by Douglas County Chief Deputy District Attorney Chelsea Mazza.
Each count carried a prison sentence of four to 10 years and a fine of up to $10,000. Judge Gregory had the choice to run the stances together (concurrent) or back-to-back (consecutive) — probation is no longer permitted for cases of this nature under state laws.
The charges
In December 2024, a related child related reported Woodrum had been inappropriately touching them on a number of occasions. A report was filed with the Carson City Sheriff’s Office, and the child was taken to the Community Assistance Center in Reno to be forensically assessed.
On January 21, 2025, a criminal complaint was issued for Woodrum for felony lewdness with a child charges, category B felonies. He was accused of touching the child’s genitals on a number of occasions both within Carson City and in Mono County, Calif. At the time of his arrest, Woodrum was employed with the Carson City Public Defender’s office.
He was arrested on Jan. 22, 2025, and six hours later he was released and allegedly began sending push notifications to the victim and/or their family members. A Temporary Protective Order was granted the next day, ordering Woodrum to have no contact with the victim or their family.
The situation surrounding Woodrum’s arrest and release revealed a concerning loophole in the justice system, which allows defendants who can afford it to circumvent stricter release conditions by posting bail before their initial hearing.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed not to pursue additional charges including sexual assault of a child and possession of child sexual abuse material, and authorities in Mono County, California, agreed not to proceed on related allegations stemming from a September 2024 incident.
Following his plea in June, family members asked for bail to be revoked, which was ultimately granted.
The victim’s mother said that she lives in constant fear for her and her child’s safety, and said that Woodrum physically abused her for 19 years before she finally asked for help. She said he strangled her into unconsciousness on a number of occasions.
She said the initial decision made by Carson City Judge Melanie Bruketta to grant bail in the first place, and then chose not to revoke or increase bail during his first hearing was putting her family in danger. She said Woodrum had threatened murder-suicide, through she said Woodrum claimed he’d been “joking,” and told her that she “couldn’t take a joke.”
The victim also spoke, stating they did not believe the community would be kept safe with Woodrum out of custody. They said that he’s proven to be “erratic,” that he gets into fights, and that the family only learned Woodrum was back in town for the first time after posting bail was because he drove past in his car.
“Think about being afraid of someone you’ve [known] your entire life, and now he has reason to harm you or the people you love,” the victim said. “He doesn’t even need to get a GPS monitor when he enters Nevada; he could just not get his anklet put on, and that’s terrifying.”
Judge Gregory, however, did choose to hold Woodrum without bail after entering his plea, which seemed to come as a shock to both Woodrum and his attorney. He said that judges make decisions based on the information and situation at the time each decision is made — and considering Woodrum had now entered a plea, whereas before he was presumed innocent, it changed the circumstances as to whether or not he was perceived as a fight risk or a general risk to the community at large.
Sentencing
According to an attorney familiar with the case, Judge Gregory also chose to impose the maximum sentence on Woodrum during Friday’s hearing.
Woodrum will spend a minimum of eight years in prison, with his two sentences running consecutively, with a maximum sentence of 20 years.
The attorney said that in providing his sentencing, Judge Gregory said the reasoning was due to the fact that Woodrum not only breached a relationship between an adult relative and a child, they also were a member of the criminal justice system and extensive knowledge as to the repercussions of such an act.
They said Gregory told Woodrum that “knowing what he knew of the justice system, he still chose to do this — and this wasn’t just one time, or two separate occasions, but multiple times over a long period of time. Knowing the law, the potential sentence wasn’t a deterrent. So maximum punishment is the appropriate sentence.”
The attorney familiar with the case said the family of the victim wanted to thank law enforcement, and everyone who participated in bringing the case to light and delivering justice. Both the victim and her mother indicated they were “hopeful that this isn’t forgotten, because they have had many people come forward and share their own traumas” since the charges were levied.
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