COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A Bronson man who was charged with numerous sex crimes is scheduled to be sentenced on January 9 after he entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors on Monday in Branch County Circuit Court.
During what was originally scheduled to be a pre-trial conference, 76-year-old Leon Albert Verrill entered no contest pleas to two counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of third degree C.S.C..
Prosecutors will dismiss a pair of first degree C.S.C. charges in exchange for his pleas.
The plea agreement also calls for Verrill to get concurrent prison sentences of between 60 months and 15 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Verrill was arrested following an investigation by the Michigan State Police and Bronson Police.
According to Branch County court documents, the crimes involving an under aged girl took place between 2015 when she was eight-years-old and October 2021. Documents also state the youngster told investigators she had been assaulted “for years”.
If the first-degree charges were real, they should not have been bargained away. If they weren’t real and just used to get a plea that is crooked.
The Branch County legal system needs fixed. This stuff is just wrong.