Former Michigan priest headed to trial on 11 sexual abuse charges from the 1980s

GRAND RAPIDS (MI)
ABC 13 WZZM

May 21, 2020

All charges involve victims who were minors at the time of the incidents.

After three days of testimony across two counties involving five victims, a former priest under the Catholic Diocese of Marquette in the Upper Peninsula is now headed to trial for 11 criminal sexual conduct charges that he reportedly committed in the 1980s.

Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday, May 21 that Gary Allen Jacobs was bound over to Dickinson County Circuit Court Monday on a second-degree criminal sexual conduct charge by district court Judge Julie LaCost. Jacobs is scheduled to appear June 1 in Dickinson County Circuit Court before Judge Christopher Ninomiya

Following testimony on Tuesday and Wednesday, Ontonagon County District Court Judge Janis Burgess bound over Jacobs on a total of 10 charges Wednesday. Jacobs will face eight counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in Ontonagon County Circuit Court before Judge Michael Pope. Jacobs’ next appearance there has not been scheduled.

Jacobs, 74, faces up to life in prison and a lifetime of electronic monitoring for each of the first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges, and up to 15 years in prison for each second-degree criminal sexual conduct charge. All charges involve victims who were minors at the time of the incidents.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.