Former Lee Academy coach and teacher charged with sexually abusing a student
If you or someone you know needs resources or support related to sexual violence, contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.
An English teacher and basketball coach at Lee Academy is facing sex charges for allegedly abusing a student two years ago.
Michael Richardson, 28, of Lee is charged with five counts of gross sexual assault, all Class C crimes, and one count of unlawful sexual contact, a Class D crime, according to the Penobscot County district attorney’s office.
Richardson made his first court appearance remotely from the Penobscot County Jail where he has been held since his arrest by Maine State Police on Friday, according to information posted on the jail’s website.
District Court Judge Meghan Szylvian did not ask Richardson to enter pleas because he has not yet been indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury.
She set bail at $15,000 cash with conditions that he have no contact with the victim or children under the age of 18, that he not be at Lee Academy or any other school, that he reside with a relative in Dover-Foxcroft and that he be supervised while on bail by Maine Pretrial Services, a private firm.
Richardson is on administrative leave from Lee Academy, according to his attorney, Jonathan Goodman of Portland. Goodman told the judge that Richardson has no criminal history and turned himself in Friday when he learned a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
Chelsea Lynds, the Penobscot County assistant district attorney who is prosecuting the case, told the judge that Richardson was in the process of leaving Lee Academy for a job at another school, but she did not say which one. He had been living in a dorm at Lee Academy, according to Lynds.
The victim, now 19, reported the abuse about six weeks ago, according to Lynds. The student was a senior when the abuse occurred, she said.
Lynds asked that bail be set at no less than $25,000 but Goodman successfully argued for the lesser amount citing similar cases.
If convicted, Richardson faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000 on the gross sexual assault charges and up to a year in prison on unlawful sexual touching charge.