Horrible Details About The Man Who Raped A 12-Year-Old Girl — And Was Just Granted Joint Legal Custody Of The Child She Conceived From The Rape
Unbelievable.
In September of 2008, a 12-year-old girl, her 13-year-old sister and their friend, snuck out of their Michigan home in the middle of the night to meet a boy.
But when boy's much older friend, 18-year-old Christopher Mirasolo, showed up and asked if they wanted to go for a ride, things turned much more sinister.
Mirasolo tossed the girls’ cellphones and drove them to a vacant house where he kept them captive for two days, raped the 12-year-old girl and threatened to kill her.
He was arrested for the crime a month later when the victim became pregnant — but he served roughly half his time in jail before being released to care for his sick mother.
But he was back in prison in 2010 after being convicted of assaulting another child between the ages of 13 and 15 years old. He only served four years for that offense.
And in another terrible twist of fate, Mirasolo was just granted parenting time and joint legal custody of the victim’s 8-year-old boy.
Though her family wanted her to abort or give up the child for adoption, the victim decided to raise him herself, according to her lawyer, Rebecca Kiessling.
“To her credit, she said she didn’t want the baby to be a victim, too,” said Kiessling. “She dropped out of school, went to live with relatives out of state and worked jobs to try and support herself.”
Mirasolo was awarded custody after DNA testing established paternity of the child, and it was only prompted after the county surveyed the victim regarding child support she had received for the past year.
"I think this is all crazy,” said the victim, whose identity is being protected. “They (officials) never explained anything to me. I was receiving about $260 a month in food stamps for me and my son and health insurance for him. I guess they were trying to see how to get some of the money back.”
The judge who awarded the custody, Judge Gregory S. Ross, even disclosed the victim’s address to her rapist and ordered that Mirasolo’s name be added to the child’s birth certificate — all without her consent or a hearing.
Kiessling said an assistant prosecutor named Eric Scott lied about saying the victim had granted her consent, and that her client is "not allowed to move 100 miles from where she had been living when the case what filed, without court consent.”
“This is insane,” said Kiessling. “Nothing has been right about this since it was originally investigated. He was never properly charged and should still be sitting behind bars somewhere, but the system is victimizing my client, who was a child herself when this all happened.”
Mirasolo’s attorney, Barbara Yockey, said her client never initiated for custody and says she’s not sure if he has any future plans to have a relationship with the child.
“I don’t know what his plans or intentions might be regarding any future relationship with the child,” Yockey said. “He never initiated this. It was something routinely done by the prosecutor’s office when a party makes application for state assistance.”
Kiessling is seeking protection for her client under the federal Rape Survivor Child Custody Act. A hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 25.
Emily Blackwood is an editor at YourTango who covers pop culture, true crime, dating, relationships and everything in between. Every Wednesday at 10:20 p.m. you can ask her any and all questions about self-love, dating, and relationships LIVE on YourTango’s Facebook page. You can follow her on Instagram (@blackw00d) and Twitter (@emztweetz).