In 2008, Christopher Mirasolo received a plea deal after raping a 12-year-old girl he had been holding hostage. He has now been given partial custody of the child she gave birth to after.
According to the Detroit News, the victim became pregnant after Mirasolo kidnapped and assaulted her 9 years ago. The victim’s attorney, Rebecca Kiessling, recounted the experience to the News:
“She, her 13-year-old sister and a friend all slipped out of their house one night to meet a boy and the boy’s older friend, Mirasolo, showed up and asked if they wanted to go for a ride,” said Kiessling. “They thought they were going to McDonald’s or somewhere.
“Instead, he tossed their cellphones away, drove to Detroit where he stole gas from a station and then drove back to Sanilac County, where he kept them captive for two days in a vacant house near a relative, finally releasing the older sister in a park. He threatened to kill them if they told anyone what happened.”
Mirasolo was initially sentenced to one year in county jail, but was released in less than seven months to care for his mother, who was sick. In 2010, he was arrested again for assaulting a minor and served four years.
The joint custody was officially granted by Judge Gregory S. Ross only this year, based on DNA tests confirming Mirasolo as the child’s father. The child’s mother, who is unnamed, told the Detroit News that she receives $260 a month in food stamps and health insurance for her son, and believes Mirasolo was given custody as part of a routine act of bureaucracy associated with public assistance requests. She thinks the state was “trying to get some of the money back” when Ross assigned custody on her rapist’s behalf, as it will affect the amount of money she receives.
Mirasolo’s attorney Barbara Yockey says he did not make any move towards official paternity himself, and it’s unclear if he has any interest in parental rights. Kiessling says the custody order is a second violation of her client’s privacy and rights, after the initial attack from Mirasolo. She asserts there was no hearing nor consent obtained by the victim prior to the ruling.
Ross gave Mirasolo the victim’s address, ordered that his name be added to the birth certificate, and issued a warning that the victim could not move more than a hundred miles from where she is living without the court’s permission. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for October 25.