Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
Bessemer — An Ironwood Township man appeared in Gogebic County Circuit Court Wednesday to confess to sexually assaulting a child.
Jason Elliot Irvine, 47, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal sexual conduct-first degree, a crime that carries a potential maximum sentence of life in prison.
In exchange for pleading guilty to the two counts, three additional first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges are expected to be dismissed at sentencing.
Irvine’s plea agreement also stipulates prosecutors will agree to recommend a sentence within the state guidelines.
Irvine was arrested following an investigation into his online activity, which began when a Tumblr user contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding suspicious activity related to an account on the online forum where users post blog entries, photographs, videos and music.
While court documents say the crimes were committed between 2016-18, Irvine said the time stamps were wrong and the assaults only took place between May 2018 and his arrest on Sept. 6.
Through tears, Irvine told the court he had sex with a 10-year-old relative at his Margaret Street house at least twice in that period.
He is scheduled to be sentence Jan. 8.
