Man jailed in teen sex-abuse incident
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Published: July 3, 2009
BENNINGTON – A Shaftsbury man was sentenced to serve four months to three years in prison after pleading guilty to three misdemeanor charges on Wednesday.
Matthew C. Cole, 33, was arraigned in October in Bennington District Court on five felony charges of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child.
Cole was tried on all of the charges except for one, which was dismissed by the state, in April.
The trial ended with a hung jury.
On Wednesday, Cole entered a guilty plea after a second charge was dismissed and the remaining charges were reduced to misdemeanor counts of engaging in prohibited acts.
Police said a girl who Cole knew said he had touched her inappropriately on multiple occasions last year when she was 14.
For each of the three charges to which he pleaded guilty, Cole was sentenced to serve 40 days to 12 months.
Under the plea agreement reached with the state, Cole will undergo sex offender treatment.
— Staff, wire reports
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