An Arrowsic man pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child molestation on July 14 in Lincoln County Superior Court.
Michael Cassell, 62, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with all but six years suspended, and 12 years of probation. His plea is part of a deal that Assistant District Attorney Deborah Cashman described as effort to prevent the victims — two young boys — from having to testify in court.
Cassell’s trial was scheduled for jury selection on July 15.
“I think this is a relief for the family of the victims, for this to be over,” Cashman said in a telephone interview on July 15. “Now they can go back to being boys in the summer.”
According to court documents, the charges against Cassell stem from a series of encounters between February 2009 and October 2010 with a pair of children of a Cassell friend in Boothbay. Although he was indicted on 21 counts of gross sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact, he pleaded guilty to six counts of gross sexual assault and two counts of unlawful sexual contact.
The court ordered Cassell to report to Two Bridges Regional Jail on Aug. 1. He will serve his sentence in state prison. Upon his release, his probation conditions will include: no contact with children under 18 years old; no possession of sexually explicit material of any kind; he will register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life; and he will be required to undergo sex offender treatment.
If he violates his probation at any time, he faces the possibility of serving the remaining 14 years of his sentence.
