A 28-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting a young girl in Fairfield was being held in jail as of Tuesday, a law enforcement official said.
Corey M. Cox was arrested Friday on one Class A count of gross sexual assault, Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster said in a statement issued Tuesday. Addresses for Cox listed in court records is in Waterville, although Lancaster said Cox is of Old Town.
Cox’s bail was initially set at $10,000 cash, and a judge lowered it to $2,500 cash during his initial court appearance in Skowhegan on Monday, according to Lancaster and court records. If Cox posts bail, he is to have no contact with anyone under the age of 18, including the alleged victim, as well as the alleged victim’s immediate family members.
Cox was being held at the Somerset County Jail in Madison as of Tuesday afternoon, Lancaster said. A court file in Skowhegan did not contain information about an appointed attorney representing Cox.
The sexual assault is alleged to have occurred in Fairfield between January and August 2023, according to a criminal complaint filed in Skowhegan by Detective Jeremy Leal of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.
The child was younger than 10 years old at the time of the alleged assault, Lancaster said. Court records indicate she was either 5 or 6 years old at the time and is a family member of Cox.
The Morning Sentinel does not identify alleged victims of sexual assaults without their consent.
Lancaster said Leal, assigned as an investigator for the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office, was asked to assist with the investigation in May.
Detective Shanna Blodgett of the Fairfield Police Department had begun investigating the case in August 2023, after receiving a complaint, Lancaster said.
Blodgett began investigating the case after the young girl was interviewed at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Kennebec and Somerset Counties in Waterville and disclosed a sexual assault, Leal wrote in an affidavit.
But prosecutors had declined to prosecute the case then due to a lack of probable cause and conflicting evidence, Leal’s affidavit says.
About one year later, Blodgett reopened the case when a Department of Health and Human Services worker said the girl made further disclosures, the affidavit says.
An ex-girlfriend of Cox also told Blodgett that Cox had discussed the sexual assault with her, according to the affidavit.
In a second interview at the Children’s Advocacy Center in November, the girl made similar disclosures as she did in the first interview, the affidavit says.
When he began investigating the case this spring, Leal arranged for the ex-girlfriend to contact Cox, the affidavit says. Based on a phone call recorded in July, Leal and First Assistant District Attorney Tim Snyder determined Cox did not deny the sexual assault happened and instead offered “vague excuses,” among other statements.
A judge issued the arrest warrant Thursday, the same day Leal requested it, court records show.
“This is an example of the importance of agencies working together with the common goal of holding perpetrators accountable for such horrific crimes,” Sheriff Lancaster said in a statement. “Without the collaboration between the Fairfield Police Department, the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, and the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office, this arrest would not have been possible.”
