AUGUSTA — A Waterville couple already charged with sexually assaulting one young girl have been indicted on charges they sexually assaulted two other children as well.

Indictments against Michael A. Stevens, 36, and Jennifer L. Stevens, 35, were handed up last week by a grand jury sitting in Kennebec County.

The pair have been held in the Kennebec County jail since their arrest Feb. 1 in lieu of $250,000 cash bail each.

They each were charged by complaint in February on one count of gross sexual assault on a child under age 12, which allegedly took place over a four-year period from Oct. 25, 2010 to Oct. 25, 2014, in Kennebec County. No pleas were entered at that time because they were felony charges.

Last week, they were indicted on numerous charges. Michael Stevens faces eight counts of gross sexual assault and one of visual sexual aggression against a child. The latter charge says he exposed his genitals to a girl under age 12 or caused her to expose her genitals to him between Oct. 25, 2010, and Oct. 24, 2011, in Waterville when the girl was 9 and 10.

In the others, the first four list the same victim as being under age 12, and say the gross sexual assault occurred between October 2010 and October 2013 in Waterville. Two more charges say the assaults continued for two more years while the girl was under age 14. The final two charges list different victims and say the gross sexual assaults occurred between Jan. 1, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2017, in Waterville, when the two victims were ages 8 and 9.

Michael Stevens, who is represented by attorney Stephen C. Smith, is scheduled for a court hearing on July 12.

“Mr. Stevens has the presumption of innocence, and we will fully investigate these new charges,” Smith said on Wednesday.

Jennifer Stevens is accused of five counts of gross sexual assault. The first three list the same victim as the prior complaint and indicate the girl was ages 9 through 12 in the years the alleged sexual assaults occurred. Counts 4 and 5 list different victims and say the gross sexual assaults occurred between Jan. 1, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2017, in Waterville, when the victims were 8 and 9.

“She will plead not guilty at her arraignment,” said her attorney, Brad Grant. “There’s more to this than what has been put into the probable cause affidavit.”

She had sought to have her bail reduced, but it was denied at a hearing on March 22.

All the gross sexual assault charges are listed as class A, meaning they carry maximum prison terms of up to 30 years.

Jennifer Stevens is scheduled for a hearing May 17 in the Augusta courthouse.

An affidavit filed in the case says the couple told the older girl that she would “lose her guardian angels” if she did not cooperate with the sexual assaults. The girl also said the man would whip her and other girls with a belt, and that their food was limited, according to the affidavit filed by Waterville Police Detective Kyle McDonald in the case against Jennifer Stevens.

The girl said the abuse happened during the day and at night, stopping only when she was living in a homeless shelter in Waterville, and also took place in Fairfield. The girl said the abuse made her so sick that she vomited and “was made to swallow her own vomit” by Michael Stevens.

McDonald said the girl said Michael Stevens took pictures of some of the sexual assaults and “made her swear on her guardian angels that she wouldn’t tell anyone about it.”

Judge Eric Walker, who presided at the initial court appearance of Jennifer Stevens at the Capital Judicial Center on Feb. 2, had ordered the affidavit sealed for 30 days, saying that the case involved “very deviant conduct with very young children.” Walker said it appeared that children were interviewed and corroborated each other’s stories and that if Stevens were convicted, there was “an inherent risk of many years, even decades, in prison.”

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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