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UPDATED WITH VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT: Mason City man escapes charges of lascivious acts with a child

MASON CITY – A Mason City man accused of lascivious acts with a child accepted a plea deal on Monday of lesser charges of assault.

According to Mason City police, it was alleged by two teenage females that 27-year-old Michael William Groh fondled or inappropriately touched them in mid-July, 2013. The case was investigated and police applied for an arrest warrant for Groh. He was arrested at his home on September 27, 2013.

Groh was charged with two felony (C) charges of lascivious acts with a child and pled not guilty.

Groh’s trial was continued a number of times until he accepted a plea deal this month on two counts of simple assault.  Judge James Drew sentenced Groh to two 3-day jail sentences to be served concurrently.  A five-year no-contact order was placed on Groh to avoid the victims.  Drew also ordered Groh to pay $4,000 in court fees and other costs.

A Mason City man told NIT that “one of the girls [victims] was my youngest daughter.  After months and months of rescheduling of court dates for various reasons, the ****ing puke gets a plea bargain and is charged with 2 counts of simple assault.  I just want this **** known for what he’s done and how he got away with it.”

Michael Groh
Michael Groh

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The parents of one of the teenage girls who made the lascivious acts accusations in this case asked that the following victim impact statement be published:

Victim Statement:

I never thought that staying overnight and babysitting would change my life forever. You were like a father figure to me, I looked up to you. You always said that if anyone in any shape or form hurt me you would put a bullet in their head. Mike is the first one to have ever touched me in such a way, not only did you betrayed my trust but have scarred me for life by touching me.

I was laying on the couch on my back and messing with my phone and Mike was sitting on the couch by my legs playing video games, he then stopped playing the video game and laid down behind me. He started tickling me (which was normal) because everyone would do that. As I try to put my phone into the waist band of my shorts my arms were at my sides, this is when Mike’s hand started to go to from my side to my inner thigh, which scared me. When I tried to move his arm away that is when he took my arms behind my back and put one hand over my mouth and the other hand up my shorts. I was moving around to try to make him stop. Mike inserted his finger, I was moving to get him away from me but that didn’t work. He then whispered in my ear, that if I ever told anyone he would take his son away from me. He had removed his hand after a few minutes from my shorts, and still had the other hand on my mouth and forced my hand on his penis. Once he removed his hand from my mouth, I told him to stop and he stopped like nothing happened. He got up and went to bed in his room where his wife and kid was sleeping. I stayed up all night, sick to my stomach, throwing up, scared, and tried to cry myself to sleep.

This has changed my life and me in so many different ways. When it first happened, I stopped eating, I hid from everyone, I dressed gothic (black clothes), and my parents do not even know this, except for my best friend, that I was cutting my hips. I only did this because, I felt like what he did to me was my fault. I punished myself and tried to escape the pain.

When I am at school I am not able to concentrate, my grades have dropped and when there is a current event in social studies that is brought up with similar situations, I have to leave the room because I feel like I am reliving what he did to me all over again. When I was football manager it was hard for me to be around the coaches because they are the same age group as Mike. I do not trust any men because of him.

This has affected my friends and family, because you did this to me, I have become more aggressive towards guys, I do not trust people, I do not tell them anything, I do not want to be touched, my family tries to tickle me, play around or hug me I back away and say do not touch me. I feel bad they think they are the problem. My friends who know what happened will try to hold me when I am crying, I will tell them no and push them away.

Because of what you did to me, I have a hard time trusting my dad. It hurts my dad because he couldn’t protect me. I cannot babysit at anyone’s house, because I am scared that it might happen again, I am disgusted with my body and feel like this is my fault. Finding out you admitted to cuddling with the other girl and me, and admitted to snapping the other girls bra together made my stomach turn.

I feel that the justice system has failed me, because I came forward with everything and you took a plea deal of simple assault, I feel that I will not be able to protect other girls from you doing this to them.

I feel Mike should be punished, like jail time, he should not be able to go anywhere near children, be a registered sex offender, mental evaluation and probation. Nothing will be good enough for the things that you have done to me, hurting me, breaking my trust, lying, and taking away my innocence, I can no longer be the kid I am supposed to be because of you. You need help.

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