Cass County Man Convicted In Child Rape Case

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A Cass County jury has convicted a 74-year-old man of three counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct after prosecutors say he repeatedly molested a young girl from 1991 to 1995. The Cass County Prosecutor’s office says James McNeil of Dowagiac began assaulting the girl when she was in kindergarten. Testifying at McNeil’s trial were six women who said they too had been lured to the defendant’s Dowagiac home as children while he “babysat” them. McNeil was earlier sentenced to up to 15 years prison after being convicted of third degree criminal sexual conduct going back to 1989. The 29-year old victim in this week’s case testified the molestations began when she was five years old. The prosecutor says she and other survivors explained from the stand how the defendant often had young children in his company and his home. They said he had been grooming and molesting grade school girls since 1977. It took the jury less than five minutes to convict McNeil. He’ll be sentenced on February 28.