Batavia, N.Y. - It is believed to be the largest indictment ever returned by a grand jury in
Ontario County. Michael S. Lewis is accused of sexually abusing two girls over 20 months.
He now faces 340 separate charges.
“There was a significant forcible aspect to a number of these rapes,” says Ontario County Assistant District Attorney James Ritts.
Police say the abuse started in April of 2010 and at first involved one victim, a 12-year-old girl. Those incidents are alleged to have occurred in the Bloomfield apartment where Lewis lived at the time.
Beginning in August of that year, the abuse is alleged to have involved a second location and a second victim – age 14.
The 82 page indictment spells out a horrific pattern. On an average 13 days of any given month, Lewis is accused of raping one or the other of his victims. On seven days in August, the assault included both girls.
“It’s unusual to have a recollection as specific as this,” says Ritts adding that many young victims are subjected to repeated, almost daily sexual assault. “But to have kids that can recall (the details) is remarkable.”
Lewis has a violent criminal past that includes domestic violence calls, assaulting a police officer, DWI and petit larceny. According to the indictment he threatened to kill the victims- commit acts of violence against their mother and other family members.
Some of the sexual acts included in the indictment occurred in front of other children- Lewis has been charged with threatening those children as well.
In 2012 Lewis was arrested in a separate incident involving an adult. While we has in jail, the young victims realized he could no longer carry out his threats and that’s when they told their mother what had happened.
“When the children felt safe and they felt he wasn’t going to come around again they disclosed it and the investigation started,” says Ritts.
Because one of the victims was under 13, Lewis faces predatory sexual assault charges which carry a possible life sentence. He was arrested at his current home in Batavia and is being held on $250,000 cash bail.
