Thompson man sentenced to 35 years in prison for sexually abusing children

Hannah Shirley, Grand Forks Herald
·1 min read

Jun. 8—A Thompson man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison with 15 years suspended for sexually abusing a child over the course of several years.

Michael Gregory Chenarides, 51, appeared for a sentencing hearing in a Grand Forks courtroom on Monday, June 7. He was found guilty of continuous sexual abuse of a child and two counts corruption of a minor in December. An additional corruption of a minor charge and a sexual assault charge were both dismissed as part of a plea agreement with the state.

In addition to his 20-year prison sentence, Chenarides was also sentenced to 10 years of probation and will be required to register as a sexual offender.

According to court documents, Chenarides was accused in July 2020 of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old victim by groping her over her clothes in 2016. The groping escalated to under-the-clothes groping and sexual assault, according to court documents.

The victim, who was 16 at the time that charges were filed, told investigators that the last time Chenarides assaulted her was in March 2020.

A second minor told forensic interviewers that Chenarides sexually abused her starting in 2017, from the time that she was 15 until she was 17 years old, court documents state. She told investigators that Chenarides would "constantly grope her, touching her breasts whenever she was close to him."

Both victims said the abuse stopped whenever other people were around.

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