SANDPOINT - A sex offender registration requirement was lifted Tuesday for a Blanchard man accused of molesting two children in Bonner County.

Samuel Glenn McCarthy is serving a 90-day jail sentence after having entered Alford pleas to reduced charges of felony injury to a child. Under the plea, McCarthy admits no culpability for the offenses but concedes he could have been convicted of them at trial.

First District Judge Barbara Buchanan imposed concurrent 10-year sentences, but suspended the prison terms and ordered McCarthy to serve 90 days in jail.

McCarthy, 72, was given a relatively light custodial sentence due to his lack of a prior criminal history and a pre-sentencing determination that he was a low recidivism risk, according to court documents.

Buchanan ordered McCarthy to register as a sex offender and imposed a suite of other related conditions such as a barring him from having unauthorized or unsupervised contact with minors, frequenting public places at times where kids will likely be present or viewing pornography.

Chief Deputy Public Defender Dan Taylor successfully argued that the offenses to which McCarthy entered pleas did not qualify for sex offender registration. Buchanan excised that requirement, but left in place the other sex offender-related probation conditions, court records show.

McCarthy was originally charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with minors, offenses which would have required registration upon conviction. He was accused of fondling a girl from 2007 to 2013, when she was between the ages of seven and 13. McCarthy was also accused of fondling the girl's brother from 2010 to 2011, when he was between the ages of seven and eight.

A vigorous prosecution and robust defense were taking shape as the case neared trial last year, but the matter was ultimately resolved through a plea agreement which downgraded the charges in exchange for pleas.