In separate case, PTC woman admits she was high during fatal crash in Fayetteville

A doctoral student at the University of Georgia pled guilty Monday to engaging in an explicit online conversation with an undercover Peachtree City police officer whom he thought was under 16.

Govinda Bahadur Basnet, 42, of 2414 Airport Drive, Athens pled guilty not only to the computer pornography charge but also to obscene internet contact. The latter charge was for transmitting a photo via e-mail to the officer depicting a naked male, according to court records.

Superior Court Judge Paschal A. English Jr. delayed sentencing until November as Basnet has asked to complete his doctoral degree. Basnet indicated in court that he was not a resident of the United States; police have said he is a native of Nepal and was living on campus in housing with his wife and 2-year-old child at the time of the crime in December 2006.

According to the University of Georgia’s web site, Basnet was doing doctoral work in ecological and environmental anthropology. Previously he received a Masters degree in ecological agriculture from the Wageningen Agricultural University in Holland. He also has worked for the United Nations in two different national parks in Nepal and he also taught plant pathology for two years, he said on the web site.

UGA officials took Basnet’s biography from the graduate student web site after his arrest, but a copy of it was located elsewhere on the Internet.

English also accepted several other guilty pleas in court Monday including that of a Peachtree City woman who admitted that she was under the influence of cocaine and marijuana when she caused a wreck in Fayetteville that killed a Clayton County man in April 2006.

Mikaela Figel of 115 Wickerhill pled guilty to homicide by vehicle in the first degree, DUI, failure to maintain lane and possession of marijuana (less than one ounce).

English delayed sentencing on Figel so the wife of Mack Edwards would be able to address the court prior to the sentence being handed down.