A local Maine man has been accused of gross sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact of a child. Both of the accusations are felony-level offenses that carry extensive jail sentences if they end with a conviction. However, the penalties that the accused faces are bound to begin immediately, as he is almost guaranteed to lose his job based on the allegations, alone.
Sex Crime Allegations Against Maine Man
The man, a native of the town of Mexico, a small community of 2,500 on Route 2 in central Maine, was arrested back in April for allegedly making unwanted sexual contact with a minor.
The 60-year-old man works as a driving instructor for a local driving school in Mexico and occasionally helped out as a substitute at the local school district. He had no criminal background at the time of his arrest.
While the alleged victim was neither a driving student nor a student in one of the man’s classes, he is almost guaranteed to lose both jobs on the weight of the allegations alone.
The Immediate Toll of Those Accused of Sex Crimes: Employment
Most people focus on the fines and jail time as the consequences of a criminal conviction. However, there are numerous collateral consequences of a conviction as well. This is especially true of felonies and is even worse when the offense has a sexual nature to it.
Out of all those collateral consequences, one of the most severe is the effect that a criminal conviction can have on your working life. People who have been convicted of a crime – especially a serious one like a felony – often find themselves unable to get hired once they complete their jail sentence and probation.
Worse, though, people who have not even been convicted – people who have merely been arrested and accused of a crime – find that their employer is unwilling to continue being associated with them while their trial is pending. This is especially true of people who have been accused of sexual crimes or of an offense against children and who work with kids on a regular basis. Employers are almost guaranteed to feel pressure from parents who want to blindly protect their children from what they see as a threat, regardless of whether it will ruin someone’s life even before a jury has decided whether he did anything wrong.
It is a sad reality, but even if cleared of all wrongdoing in an acquittal, the odds are such that this driving instructor has given his final lesson.
Maine Sex Crime Defense Attorneys at Maine Criminal Defense Group
The criminal defense lawyers at Maine Criminal Defense Group strive to represent those who have been accused of crimes in Maine, including those who have been accused of sexual crimes like sexual assault. Allegations like these are especially inflammatory and require staunch defense to make up for the public’s attempts to infringe on your due process rights.
If you have been accused of a sex crime in Maine, call the defense lawyers at Maine Criminal Defense Group at (207) 571-8146 or contact them online.
