An Arrowsic man facing 44 counts of unlawful sexual contact with a minor in Boothbay was re-arrested by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 8 and charged with gross sexual assault, according to records at Two Bridges Regional Jail and Lincoln County Superior Court, both in Wiscasset.
Michael Cassell, 61, was originally arrested Nov. 16 in connection with a series of incidents that allegedly took place between Cassell and two brothers – one 12 and one 9 – in Boothbay, according to court records.
Cassell knew the family through a mutual friend who was dating the children’s mother, and over the last three years, Cassell has often worked on the family’s home, sometimes spending the night “on the bottom bunk in the boys room or on the couch,” Cassell told LCSO Det. Sgt. Ken Hatch, according to a written statement made by Hatch and filed with the court following Cassell’s second arrest.
During that time, Cassell was apparently close to the boys; one of them told Hatch that Cassell was “a good friend” and that he and Cassell “go mountain climbing, have water fights, play baseball and football together,” according to Hatch’s statement.
According to Hatch’s statement, the 44 original counts relate to a series of alleged unlawful sexual contacts between Cassell and the two boys, described to Hatch by both boys in separate interviews. The boys told Hatch the alleged contacts occurred both at their home and at Cassell’s home in Arrowsic between Feb. 2009 and Oct. 2010,
When Cassell was initially interviewed by Hatch, Cassell told him that he “knew what this was about” and that it was “because of the neighbors complaining about the boys sleeping with me,” according to Hatch’s statement.
Cassell denied ever touching the boys under their clothes, according to the statement.
However, as Hatch describes the interview in his statement, Cassell “did not protest the allegations of sexual abuse, but became very upset when I said that he had threatened them. Cassell stated that he loves the boys and would never do anything to harm them. Cassell stated this several times and was very upset that I thought he had threatened them,” Hatch wrote.
Hatch has no record of sexual crimes, but has two OUIs and a prior possession of cocaine charge, according to Hatch’s statement.
On Dec. 6, after Cassell’s original arrest, the family contacted Hatch again. At that time, one of boys made statements to Hatch alleging that Cassell forced the boy to give and receive oral sex, which led to Cassell’s second arrest and the more serious charge of gross sexual assault – Maine’s equivalent to rape – according to Hatch’s statement.
Cassell was arrested on Dec. 8 at around 11 a.m., charged with gross sexual assault, and released on bail at around 1 p.m. that afternoon, according to jail records. Cassell’s bail conditions preclude any contact with children under 16 years old, according to court documents.
Hatch also wrote near the end of his statement that one of boys and his mother identified “other children that had spent time alone with [Cassell] over the years.”
The investigation is ongoing, Hatch said in a telephone interview on Dec. 14. More charges may be filed against Cassell in the future, “but that’s a ways down the road,” Hatch said.
