Caron sentenced to prison

MARQUETTE — A Forsyth Township man originally charged with numerous counts of criminal sexual conduct is going to prison.

Andrew Caron, 43, was sentenced in Marquette County Circuit Court Friday morning to 28 to fifty years on two counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct. He was also given eight to twenty years for two counts relating to the production of child sexually abusive material. Those sentences will be served concurrently. In all, Caron originally faced 39 counts, but he pleaded guilty to four in late August as part of a plea agreement.

“Whether we had gone to trial and gotten a conviction on all 39 counts or had a conviction on four counts, the sentencing ultimately would have been about the same,” said Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Griffin. “So what we did was we did a plea agreement where the depravity of what he did was reflected appropriately, and it kept the survivor from having to testify in front of a bunch of people.”

According to Griffin, both prosecution and the victim agree that justice has been served in this case.

“This is a person who is going to be in his seventies before he is even eligible for parole,” Griffin said. “He’s going to have the next 28 years to sit and think and reflect on just what he’s done.”

Under Michigan law, first degree criminal sexual conduct carries a statutory minimum prison sentence of 25 years.