Jeremy McCown lured a 13-year-old into his car.
AUBURN – A Lewiston man who lured a 13-year-old girl into his car and attempted to entice two others is scheduled to be released Sunday from the Androscoggin County Jail.
Jeremy McCown, 22, of 275 Ferry Road, has served less than six months after pleading guilty to charges of criminal restraint and two counts of assault.
McCown was originally charged with kidnapping, a crime that could have garnered him up to 40 years in prison. The charge was later dropped as part of a plea arrangement.
At a sentencing hearing in November, Justice Ellen Gorman sentenced McCown to 364 days in jail for each of the three charges. Gorman then suspended all but six months of that time.
McCown has been in jail since his arrest in August, meaning he has been behind bars just under six months.
He will now serve three years of probation, during which he will be barred from being on the property of any elementary, middle or high school.
A Lewiston High School graduate, McCown was arrested Aug. 29 after police identified him as the man who stopped a 13-year-old girl on her way to school, lured her to his window and yanked her into his car.
He was accused of fondling the girl and making sexual comments to her as he drove around the neighborhood.
Police had received reports the previous morning that a man in a green car was stopping students on their way to the middle school.
Police were sent to the Central Avenue area in marked and unmarked cars. One of the officers recognized McCown driving around.
The officer was taking statements from two girls who were approached earlier in the day, when the assistant principal came to him with a third student.
That girl told the officer that she had just been walking on Pine Street when a green car drove by, took a left on Jefferson Street, then turned around and stopped. The girl said she could not hear what the man was saying because his window was rolled up, so she opened his car door and asked what he wanted.
McCown grabbed the girl by the arm and pulled her into the car, ripping her sleeve. Police said he then attempted to push her legs apart while asking graphic questions before dropping her off near the school.
The girl gave police a description of the man, and McCown was arrested at his workplace later that day. He had been dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army just a month before.
The situation prompted school officials to react as children and teenagers returned to classes at the start of the school year. School administrators reminded children to steer clear of strangers and sent letters to parents warning them about the situation.
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