It is a relatively short drive from Grand Rapids to Calhoun County, Michigan. That is where a pair of brothers each faces multiple charges of sexual assaults on children.
According to a recent news article, the Battle Creek brothers were arraigned on four counts each of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
They are accused by the county prosecutor of numerous sexual assaults on two children, 8 and 9 years old, between 2012 and 2014.
The prosecutor said that each brother faces two counts of assaulting both children, “but that is not necessarily the number of instances.” He alleges that the assaults were carried out over a two- or three-year period.
The older brother, 34, is also scheduled to next month stand trial for the rape of a 16-year-old girl.
In that case, she told police that she had been walking home from the school bus when a man grabbed her, threatened her with a gun and forced her into a wooded area where she was then assaulted.
Law enforcement officials initially questioned the younger brother, 29 years old, in that case but then arrested the older sibling. They lived at the same address at the time, according to a news report.
The older brother is being held on a $500,000 bond while the younger is held on a $200,000 bond.
The two now face some of the harshest sanctions the law has to offer.
Anyone in similar circumstances should decline to speak with police or prosecutors until they have had a chance to talk to an experienced, skilled Grand Rapids criminal defense attorney.