Former NHLer charged for 2011 incident in which he sexually assaulted a minor, pleads guilty
First and foremost, I'd like to issue a trigger warning. This story contains sensitive subject matter relating to the sexual assault of a minor. Proceed with caution.
Current Yaroslavl Lokomotiv forward and former NHLer Reid Boucher has plead guilty to "third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving sexual penetration with an individual between the ages of 13 and 16 years old," stemming from an incident that occurred back in 2011, when he was just 17 years old.
At the time of the incident, Boucher had been living with a billet family in Michigan and was a member of the US National Development Team, just prior to his draft year.
The original charge that Boucher faced was much more serious and could have sent him to prison for life, but the judge in the case had allowed Boucher to take a plea deal in December in exchange for a lesser charge. Due to the conditions of his sentence in his deal, Boucher could possibly avoid jail time through the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act (HYTA), per the Detroit Free Press.
The victim was reportedly just 12 years old at the time, and was blackmailed into performing oral sex on the then 17-year-old. Per the victim, it happened on multiple occasions.
The victim told the Detroit Free Press that she felt like "a lot of the progress I've made over the last 10 years � that's been undone."
Boucher, now 28, will face sentencing on January 31st.
Source: The Detroit Free Press, via Markerzone.com
