Former caretaker withdraws no contest plea

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Former caretaker withdraws no contest plea

Maltese will face a jury on six criminal sexual conduct charges

By McClary

C & G Staff Writer

MOUNT CLEMENS — The former Macomb Township caretaker accused of sexually

accosting two young autistic boys last summer has withdrawn a no contest plea

submitted in March and will stand trial beginning in July.

Maltese, 22, entered a no contest plea to several criminal sexual

conduct charges March 4. By doing so, he'd given up his right to face a jury. He

was supposed to be sentenced April 28 in Macomb County Circuit Judge Diane

Druzinski's courtroom. Instead, he withdrew his plea and will stand trial this

summer.

Maltese had previously pleaded no contest to a torture charge, as well as to

three others: second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving persons under 13,

a 15-year felony; indecency between males, committing or procuring, a five-year

felony; and accosting children for immoral purposes. Under that plea, he faced a

maximum sentence of 15 to 20 years in jail.

Three other charges — an additional count of second-degree criminal sexual

conduct and two first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges, punishable up to

life — would've been dropped. Now that he will face a jury, Maltese faces every

count but the torture charge, according to Macomb County Circuit Court dockets.

If found guilty, he could face life behind bars.

Trial is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. July 21 in Druzinski's Mount Clemens

courtroom.

Back in March, Oster, assistant prosecuting attorney for the Macomb

County Prosecutor's Criminal Sexual Conduct unit, said she hoped Maltese would

go through with the no contest plea.

" We agreed to that plea, " Oster said.

Oster has been on the case since last July, when it first opened. Maltese has

had three different defense attorneys since being arraigned. Several calls to

his current attorney, Ribitwer, were not returned before press time.

In June, 2008, Maltese, then 21, was allegedly caught on video surveillance

engaging in sex acts with the two little boys he cared for under the employment

of a local agency that specializes in the needs of autistic children.

The parents of the boys set up a " Nanny Cam " in their Macomb Township home not

because they suspected Maltese of any wrongdoing at the time, but more so out or

curiosity, said Macomb County Sheriff's Capt. when the police

report first came across his desk.

The names and ages of the victims and their parents are being withheld.

Maltese, a Macomb Township resident, was originally arraigned in Shelby

Township's 41-A District Court, where his preliminary exam was adjourned several

times.

Staff Writer Kristyne Demske contributed to this story.