POLAND — A man who recently served time for unlawful sexual touching was arrested Thursday on a warrant for gross sexual assault.

Matthew J. Thompson, 32, of 66 Mechanic Falls Road in Poland is accused of sexually assaulting a juvenile female several years ago, when she was 6 or 7 years old.

Detective Gary Hill of the Norway Police Department, who arrested Thompson, said it’s common for child victims of sexual abuse to come forward years later when they have a better understanding of what happened to them. “Sometimes it comes to light,” he said.

Hill said that in 2006, Thompson was charged with unlawful sexual touching against another juvenile female of the same age. Hill said Thompson was living in Norway at the time of the unlawful touching as well as the alleged sexual assault.

To that charge, Thompson took an offer for a deferred disposition, where he could have charges dismissed if he completed requirements set by the District Attorney’s Office, including receiving counseling in a sex offender treatment program.

According to Hill, Thompson didn’t complete the counseling and his deferred disposition was canceled.

Last August, Thompson was arrested in a sweep of sex offenders for not updating his address. Thompson is not currently on Maine’s sex offender registry because under Maine law, the unlawful sexual touching conviction doesn’t warrant inclusion on the registry, Hill said.

Thompson’s bail was set at $20,000 cash or $100,000 secured surety.

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