Michael James Byrd of Gassville, who is now charged in two cases with having inappropriate sexual contact with young females, appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him in both cases.
Byrd was jailed August 23rd on the first set of charges and on September 9th on the second. He is currently free on $50,000 bond.
In both cases, he is charged with sexual indecency with a child and first-degree sexual assault.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the original case, the 33-year-old Byrd and the victim’s mother had been living together at a residence in Gassville. The relationship between the adults had been on-going for about three years, and the alleged sexual contact with the woman’s then eight-through-ten-year-old daughter allegedly took place during the last year Byrd and the girl’s mother were together.
The situation was reported to the Gassville police March 13th. In addition to Gassville police, the incident was investigated by the Crimes Against Children Division of the Arkansas State Police.
In an interview with the victim, she described the alleged contacts with Byrd and said he told her “this is our little secret”. The victim was asked if she ever told Byrd that the sexual activity was not right and she told investigators she had thought about it but “didn’t have the courage” to confront him.
She said the first time Byrd had sexual contact with her, she pretended to be asleep. The girl told investigators she did not know what to do and described herself as being in “shock”.
She told investigators she was finally convinced to report what had happened by two juvenile friends of hers who urged her to tell her mother.
In the affidavit, it is reported that during the investigation into the first incident, information came to light that there were other accusations that Byrd had had similar contact with pre-pubescent females.
In the most recent case, Byrd is accused of inappropriately touching a girl beginning when she was 12-years old. It is alleged that Byrd had been sexually assaulting the girl for a period of years. The victim told investigators that the incidents took place at her residence in Mountain Home and at Byrd’s home in Gassville.
The victim said the last incident took place in May last year.
In the probable cause affidavit in the second case, Byrd is described as a “close family friend” of the girl and her mother. The woman said that after dating Byrd for about six months, she had to put her children in counseling. She also reported that Byrd watched “lots of porn” and that he was into such things as “Asian teen porn” and “forced teen sex”.
The alleged victim did not report the molestation until Byrd and her mother had what was described as a “falling out”.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Byrd met with an investigator with the Crimes Against Children Division on June 25th. Byrd is reported to have told the investigator he believed the alleged victim’s mother had told the girl to tell investigators falsehoods about him.
Byrd was ordered to make reappearances on both cases later this month.
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