COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A Coldwater man recently recently extradited from Florida has been convicted by a Branch County Circuit Court jury of two counts of First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct and one count of Second-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct involving a minor in a case dating back nine years.
55-year-old Alex New was charged in 2016 but fled and eluded authorities before being located in Florida and returned to Branch County in June 2024 through Operation Survivor Justice. The Operation is a partnership between the Michigan Department of Attorney General, local county prosecutors, and the U.S. Marshals Service to locate, apprehend, and return to Michigan fugitive offenders with outstanding sexual assault warrants.
The case was prosecuted by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
At the trial, the victim testified the abuse happened when she was a child in 2009 and 2010 when New lived in the home she was staying at. Her mother testified she didn’t find out about the assaults until 2015 when New moved back after 11 months in jail for molesting two other girls.
New will be sentenced before Judge P. William O’Grady in Circuit Court August 11. The crimes carry a a mandatory 25 years to life sentence.
According to the Michigan State Police’s Michigan Sex Offender Registry, New was previously convicted in Branch County Circuit Court of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in August 2014.
He pleaded no contest to the charge in exchange for the dismissal of two second-degree criminal sexual conduct charges, a third-degree charge and a charge of assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct.
In October 2014, he was sentenced to 11 months in jail and five years probation, and also ordered to register as a sex offender.
That was a lot of work just to hand him to O’Grady for a hand slapping.