Woman Nets Year for Doing Boy, 13

(Warren, Michigan) Last March, a 23-year-old Warren woman, Melissa Jean Grifford, was charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy who was her babysitter.

Reportedly, the police were alerted by the boy's parents who were acting in response to trailer park rumors. Grifford was booked and released on bond.

Yesterday, despite probation officials' recommendations, Grifford was sentenced to one year in the county jail. She was also ordered to serve four years' probation and to register as a sex offender.

From MacombDaily.com:

Melissa Jean Grifford, who is pregnant with another man's child and is free on bond, will report to the Macomb County Jail to serve her sentence sometime next month after she gives birth.

Grifford pleaded guilty to the original charge, third-degree criminal sexual conduct, for having sex with a boy she hired to babysit her infant child last December at her mobile home near Nine Mile Road and Van Dyke. The Macomb County Probation Department recommended a sentence of at least four years and two months in state prison, but visiting Macomb Circuit Judge George Steeh deviated below sentencing guidelines and agreed to a term that will consist of serving only at the Macomb County Jail.

The "downward deviation" was not strongly opposed by the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office because the victim's father wanted to avoid forcing his son to go through a trial and have further contact with Grifford.

The reason for the downward deviation was not explained. I'd guess it's because Grifford is female ... and pregnant ... and she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.