M Blessent sentence

USA
Illinois

On April 12th, 2023, Bloomington Police officers were dispatched to a residence with an arrest warrant for Michelle, a transgender woman who had been accused of sexually assaulting her nine-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son. Michelle earlier identified as James but had changed the name legally.

James’s daughter accused him of sexually assaulting her regularly over the several years that she had lived with him. She stopped living with him in 2022, when the last incident had happened. Prior to his arrest, James had learned of the accusations made against him through his ex-wife. He then destroyed his phone, which contained pornographic images that he showed his children while abusing them. Some of those nudes were of his ex-wife, who had parted ways with him after he came out as a transgender woman.

During interrogation, James alleged that he could never abuse his children because he himself was abused by his elder brother when he was a child and knew how it felt. The officer told him that, in his experience, the ones inflicting trauma often had faced a severe form of it in the past. James argued that he could not sustain an erection to do such a thing because he was on HRT (male to female hormone therapy).

James was indicted on five counts of predatory criminal sexual assault. After the indictment, he was issued a $1 million bond warrant.

BLOOMINGTON (25News Now) - A Bloomington resident charged with multiple counts of child sexual assault has pleaded guilty and was sentenced.

Michelle Blessent was sentenced to 42 years for each of two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim under 13, as well as three years for a count of grooming.

The Bloomington Police Department says the sentences run consecutively, meaning Blessent was sentenced to 87 years.

Under Illinois’ truth-in-sentencing laws, 85 percent of the counts of criminal sexual assault must be served.
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By Jason Howell Published: Jun. 26, 2024 at 8:51 AM PDT | Updated: Jun. 26, 2024 at 3:17 PM PDT