A man who failed to register in Michigan for sex crime convictions in Canada is facing 14 criminal counts in federal court that allege he raped a young girl at a Rosebush home dozens of times over more than a year.
It was only when the pre-teen girl experienced a rare pregnancy complications that her mother learned of the assaults and a police investigation began.
Byron Dale Bird, 63, was living with a woman and her daughter in Rosebush, who was 12-years-old at the time.
The girl’s mother was away often from the home caring for a sick relative when Bird would order the 12-year-old into her room and tell her to take her clothes off and lie on the bed, according to a sworn statement made by the lead federal investigator on the case.
The victim – a small child – told police she was scared of Bird who was 5-foot-10 and 300 pounds, according to court documents.
On about 20 occasions Bird raped the girl and once sexually assaulted her with a sex toy; after he would tell her that if she told anyone he would take away her horses and her cell phone.
“(The victim’s) horses mean a lot to her as she considers them her best friends,” the investigator wrote in his statement.
Police began investigating the assaults when the girl was treated for a molar pregnancy, a complication where tissue but not a fetus grows inside the womb; at that time the child told her mother about the rapes.
A lab that analyzed the tissue found male DNA and a lab is currently testing to see if that DNA matches Bird, according to court records.
As investigators gathered information, they learned that Bird was convicted of sex crimes involving a 12-year-old girl in Canada in 2007 and as such was required to register as a sex offender but failed to do so.
Because Bird is Native American and the Rosebush assaults happened in what’s formally referred to as “Indian Country,” the Federal Bureau of Investigation handled the case and Bird is being charged in federal court.
A grand jury indicted Bird on 14 criminal counts earlier this month including two counts of sexual abuse of a minor, two counts of abusive sexual contact, witness tampering, failure to register as a sex offender, four counts of a crime of violence by a person who failed to register as a sex offender, and four charges of commission of a federal sex offense by someone who failed to register as a sex offender.
A court scheduling document in the file indications Bird and federal prosecutors has until August 21 to agree on any plea offers, and a jury trial is scheduled for Sept. 11 in U.S. Federal Court’s Eastern District.