FARMINGTON — A former University of Maine at Farmington rugby player pleaded guilty Friday to sex crimes against a fellow student.
Frank Makuch, 23, of Storrs, Conn., pleaded guilty to a felony charge of unlawful sexual contact and no contest to a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence assault in Franklin County Superior Court.
The state dismissed a felony charge of gross sexual assault in a plea agreement.
Makuch’s attorney, Walter McKee, said there was some dispute over what happened. From the defense’s standpoint it was consensual sex, he said. There were inconsistencies in the woman’s statements, he said.
The two had reportedly been dating for months.
McKeen said, based on the state’s evidence, Makuch knew a jury could have found him guilty on the sexual assault charge, which could result in a 30-year prison sentence and a $50,000 fine.
Justice William Stokes found Makuch guilty of the domestic violence assault and sentenced him to 364 days. He will begin serving that sentence at the Franklin County jail in Farmington on Jan. 4, 2016.
Stokes also accepted a 33-month deferred sentencing agreement on the sexual contact charge, which will require Makuch to complete several tasks. Those include undergoing a sexual offender evaluation. If he successfully completes the agreement he will be able to withdraw his guilty plea to the felony charge and plead to a misdemeanor assault charge. He will not have to register as a sex offender.
Assistant District Attorney Claire Andrews said if the case went to trial, Farmington Detective Marc Bowering would have testified that the victim reported the assault, which occurred at 2 a.m. April 14, on April 15. The victim told Bowering she was at Makuch’s apartment when he told her he wanted to break up and have sex with other women.
Testimony would have been heard that during the evening Makuch asked the victim repeatedly to have sex with him and she repeatedly told him no.
According to Bowering’s affidavit filed with the court, the victim told Bowering she was too scared to walk home. She and Makuch were in bed together. She was wearing sweatpants and a tank top and Makuch was wearing shorts and no shirt. She turned away from Makuch to sleep and he started taking her clothes off. Makuch tried kissing her but she turned her head away from him.
Bowering wrote in his affidavit that the victim told him that when she would not kiss Makuch, he held her head in his hands and kissed her neck, causing hickeys. Makuch pinned her arms to the side of her body and sexually assaulted her, according to the affidavit.
Afterward, Makuch said, “Oh, I guess that was kind of like rape,” according to Bowering’s affidavit.
When Bowering interviewed Makuch, he said he told the victim he “technically raped” her, according to the detective.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
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