Pretrial hearing in child sex abuse case
A Wisconsin man appeared in Houghton County Circuit Court today on charges of criminal sexual conduct.
A pretrial hearing was held for 26-year-old Chad Lapointe.
Lapointe is facing one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim under 13 years old, one count of fourth-degree CSC with a victim 13 to 16 years old and two counts of accosting a child for immoral purposes.
The charges all involve the same unidentified victim.
Lapointe has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
If convicted, he could get 15 years in prison on the most serious charge and would have to wear a lifetime electronic monitoring device.
Houghton County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Makinen said he is in negotiations with defense attorney David Gemignani on a resolution to both cases against Lapointe.
Another pretrial conference will be held in one week.