Southern Indiana man pleads guilty to molesting 20 young girls

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (WDRB) -- Michael Begin Jr., the man accused of molesting 20 young girls - some as young as 3 years old - in southern Indiana, has pleaded guilty.

Since his arrest in October 2017, 19-year-old Michael Begin has maintained his innocence, but Friday morning he entered a blind plea agreement on 20 counts of child molestation. The plea comes more than a year after the allegations surfaced.

The blind plea agreement means the sentencing will be left up to the judge, who could sentence him to anywhere from two to 120 years in prison.

Begin was 18 when he was accused of molesting two young girls at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School on Hamburg Pike.

That's where investigators say Begin was working as a teacher's assistant as part of Jeffersonville High School's early childhood education program.

Other victims came forward after those allegations, including more than a dozen others who said Begin molested them when he worked at the Clark County YMCA in Jeffersonville.

Begin was facing 27 charges, but seven were dropped as part of the agreement. The guilty plea avoids a trial and means the young victims will not have to testify.

"These children range in age from three years old to eight years old and for those children to have to go through the pre-trial depositions and the trial testimony was going to be very very traumatic for some of them," Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull Said.

Begin had no comment as he left the courtroom but his attorney, Jennifer Culotta, said accepting the blind plea deal was the best option.

"We reviewed the evidence, we spent lots of time with Michael and his family, and we came to the decision that this was the best resolution to start the healing process," Culotta said.

Mull said the parents of the victims are in support of the plea agreement.

"The important thing was that all of 20 of the victims got justice today," Mull said. "He is convicted of molesting for everyone that I had charged, and the judge has the ability to send him to prison for the rest of his natural life."

Several lawsuits have been filed against Begin, his parents, the YMCA and the Greater Clark County Schools in connection with the case.

The judge ordered Begin to have no contact with the victims or their families. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Under the terms of the blind plea agreement, Begin cannot appeal his conviction, but he can appeal the sentence.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 21.

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