Janitor Accused of Molestation

A deaf church janitor accused of kidnaping three young girls and keeping one under a church platform as long as six weeks was charged in court today with sexually molesting two of the girls.

Kenneth Alvin Michel stood motionless, hands clasped in front of him, while prosecutors in Municipal Court amended the criminal complaint against him to include eight felony counts of committing lewd acts with a child under 14 years of age. Michel, 32, already faced three felony counts of kidnaping. The additional charges were “based on the totality of the evidence. I can’t say what it (the evidence) includes, or what it doesn’t,” Ken Peterson, assistant chief district attorney, said before the court session.