Houghton Man Charged with a Sex Crime

The case against a Houghton man charged with a sex crime is moving forward. 25–year–old Chad Lapointe is charged with 3rd degree criminal sexual conduct involving a 15 year old girl. A previous move to plea bargain down to “attempted” criminal sexual conduct failed when Lapointe was unable to establish a factual basis for the judge to accept the guilty plea. Wednesday, the attorney for Lapointe indicated that his client may be suffering memory loss as a residual effect from a car accident he was in at age 17. The judge set a pre–trial hearing in four to six weeks to give the defense time to gather documentation as to Lapointe’s condition.The case is scheduled to go to trial in April.