FARMINGTON — A judge set bail Friday for a Lewiston man accused of having sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl on June 10.

The hearing that brought the $5,000 cash or $50,000 surety bail followed a missing-person search for the teenager who was said to have run away from her foster home in New Sharon with Charles F. Fontenot.

Fontenot, 30, of 205 Pine St., Apartment 5, was arrested Wednesday in Portland by the U.S. Marshals Service on a Franklin County Sheriff’s Department warrant charging him with a felony count of sexual abuse of a minor and a misdemeanor count of criminal restraint.

Fontenot is accused of taking off with the girl and not returning her to her foster home in New Sharon.

He made an initial appearance before Judge Paul A. Cote Jr. in Farmington District Court.

Cote ordered him held on the bail with conditions that include no contact with the victim or any child under 16, except supervised contact with his 15-year-old daughter who turns 16 this month. He also cannot possess or use intoxicants including alcohol or illegal drugs.

Assistant District Attorney James Andrews had requested $10,000 cash bail. He said the case involved a 15-year-old girl and him having sexual relations with the girl. Andrews also said there is some evidence the girl was moved out of state for a while. Andrews went over Fontenot’s criminal history that began in 1999 and included several thefts.

Attorney Joelle Pratt who was representing Fontenot argued for lower bail. She said that Fontenot had no felony convictions and he has no surety or cash to set for bail.

He is employed and has been a longtime Maine resident since he was a child, Pratt said.

Cote said the charges are very serious and a concern prior to setting bail.

According to an affidavit filed in support of a warrant, Franklin County Deputy Christopher Chase responded to a New Sharon residence on June 10 to take a missing-person complaint that a teenager had run away the night before.

A foster parent told police that the Maine Department of Health and Human Services has custody of the teen. He also learned that she may run away with an older man, according to the affidavit.

On June 11, Franklin County Detective David St. Laurent, as part of a follow-up, met with the girl’s caseworker. According to the affidavit, the caseworker learned from the girl’s family members in Lewiston that the teen had known Fontenot for some time because she is friends with his daughter in high school. The caseworker also told St. Laurent that Fontenot knew the girl was a foster child and the two were having a sexual relationship and that she is three weeks pregnant with his child.

The caseworker said that both the girl and Fontenot have told family they are in love and have left to be together.

Lewiston Police Department interviewed Fontenot’s family members. They also were told that Fontenot had known the girl for some time because she is in his daughter’s class.

Lewiston police, according to the affidavit, also learned that the two were intimate and had run away together.

St. Laurent interviewed a younger sibling of the girl the next day. She told him that she has known Fontenot and her sister had been seeing each other because she has caught the two in the girl’s room late at night in the house in New Sharon.

She also told police that her sister sneaked out to see Fontenot down the street. She also told police she overheard the couple talking about two weeks before about them being in love and that she was pregnant with his child and they planned to run away to live together.

Judge Cote set a status conference on Fontenot’s case for Oct. 28 in Franklin County Superior Court in Farmington.

dperry@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link