A jury has found a man accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy to be guilty of the accusations. Following a five-day trial and nearly eight hours of deliberation, a jury convicted Michael Aram Jenkins, 48, of sexually abusing a boy, who was 16 at the time of the abuse, as they gave one another full-body massages with little to no clothing. Jenkins had been coaching a competition baseball team, and the boy would give Jenkins "the regular massage," despite how uncomfortable it made him feel, out of concern for his job.
Eventually Jenkins would give the teen boy massages under the pretense of loosening up muscles made sore from playing baseball. On at least 10 occasions, the teen testified that Jenkins touched him in inappropriate ways for a brief time, although he was unsure if the contact was accidental. Police were contacted after another player who worked for Jenkins happened upon the pair during one of the massages, and then went to talk to an adult. Charges were filed against Jenkins in April 2016. He was found guilty of four counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony, and two counts of lewdness, a class B misdemeanor.
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