RUMFORD — Christopher Lee Sheldon, 39, of Rumford was arrested Thursday on multiple felony charges.

Christopher Lee Sheldon, 39, of Rumford, is facing up to 30 years in prison for one of his gross sexual assault charges, Rumford police said Thursday. Rumford Police Department

Charges include two counts of gross sexual assault of a minor, a class A felony, and one count of failure to comply with registration requirements of the sex offender registry program, a class C felony.

The Rumford Police Department wrote in a Facebook post Thursday evening that the charges are based upon allegations and evidence of dozens of sexual acts perpetrated against a female child since spring 2023, when the victim was under the age of 12. Additional charges may follow with emerging evidence and further investigation, Rumford Detective Sgt. George Cayer said.

In July, Cayer began an investigation after a juvenile victim and witnesses came forward to report that Sheldon had been sexually abusing the child regularly for more than a year, according to the Rumford police statement.

If convicted, Sheldon faces up to 30 years in prison for one of the gross sexual assault charges, Rumford police said.

Sheldon was processed at Rumford Police Department and then transported without bail to the Oxford County Jail.

Court records show that Sheldon has been indicted several times in the past, with a conviction as far back as 2005. He was convicted of unlawful sexual contact on Nov. 14, 2005 in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn.

According to the Maine Sex Offender Registry, Sheldon now has four convictions: three counts of sexual abuse of a minor and one unlawful sexual contact.

In the 19 years since his first conviction, Sheldon has lived and worked in Bethel and Rumford.

In 2012, Rumford police arrested Sheldon after a 16-year-old girl reported involvement in a sexual relationship with Sheldon, starting when she was 15. Sheldon pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual abuse of a minor, receiving six months in jail and five years suspended, as well being required to maintain registrant status on the Maine Sex Offender Registry. Sheldon’s sentence included two years of probation after his release.

To see if someone is registered as a sex offender or to search for sex offenders in your neighborhood, visit Maine Sex Offender Registry, a public database that maintains information about individuals who have been convicted of sex offenses in Maine: apps.web.maine.gov/cgi-bin/sor/index.pl