AUGUSTA — Sean M. Eori had sex with a girl as many as 100 times when she was between ages 13 and 15, a state prosecutor told a jury Monday on the first day of Eori’s trial on 11 counts of sexual crimes against a child.
The prosecutor said the alleged assaults took place aboard Eori’s boat, inside campers, at Eori’s business and house and after Eori had picked up the girl for lunch or after school. The prosecutor also said Eori had the girl take nude photographs of herself and text them to Eori.
Eori’s defense lawyer, Walter McKee, said his client is not guilty and never sexually assaulted the girl or asked her to send Eori photographs.
McKee said the girl had ongoing meetings with a school counselor, during which she disclosed numerous intimate details of her life, including an incident in which she said she was sexually assaulted by someone else, but never mentioned a sexual relationship with Eori or that he, who is a friend of her father, had ever been anything but a positive influence in her life.
Eori, 44, of Albion was indicted in 2023 on one count of gross sexual assault, three counts of unlawful sexual contact, two counts of sexual abuse of a minor, one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and four counts of possession of sexually explicit materials.
Prosecutors allege Eori sexually assaulted the girl multiple times when she was between 13 and 15 years old. They also said Eori has known the girl since she was a baby.
Assistant District Attorney Amanda Seekins said all 11 charges involve the same girl, with whom Eori allegedly had a roughly 1 1/2-year sexual relationship, from 2020 until 2022, when she disclosed what Eori had allegedly done to her.
In a video played in court Monday, the girl told a child victim advocate that Eori had taken her virginity and violently sexually assaulted her, which she said hurt. She said Eori always had a loaded gun on him.
“He always told me there would be consequences. He told me I’d be in very big trouble if I told anyone,” the girl said in a video interview with child victim advocate Samantha Marquis, which was played in court. “He told me it was supposed to hurt.”
The Kennebec Journal is not identifying the girl because its policy is not to identify alleged victims of sexual assault without their permission.
McKee said the girl’s claims of what Eori has allegedly done to her are not supported by the evidence. McKee said Eori has never sexually assaulted the girl, never asked her for nude photographs of herself and never kept nude photographs of her in a cellphone.
McKee said a school counselor, to whom the girl disclosed things about the details of her life, including problems with her family and in school, never mentioned anything about Eori, other than one time when she reported that another person had sexually assaulted her and Eori offered to tell her father about what had happened to her.
McKee also said the girl alleged Eori had hit her and violently thrown her against steel walls, yet she had no visible injuries. McKee also said testing by the Maine State Crime Laboratory did not reveal physical evidence that Eori had sexually assaulted the girl or the presence of Eori’s DNA.
McKee said the jury was not in court to determine whether it is appropriate for a man of Eori’s age to text and communicate with a teenage girl. Instead, McKee said, jurors must determine whether Eori had sexually assaulted the girl or told her to send him nude photographs of herself, which McKee said Eori had never asked the girl to do.
The most serious charge, the Class A offense of gross sexual assault, alleges that on or between Jan. 8, 2019, and Jan. 6, 2021, Eori engaged in a sexual act with a minor younger than 14 years old. The offense is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
The other allegations also involve the same child victim, and reportedly took place between Jan. 8, 2019, and June 6, 2022, in Kennebec County, though the indictment does not indicate the municipality.
The four counts of possession of sexually explicit materials allegedly took place in Windsor on June 23, 2022, and involved images of children younger than 16.
Eori owned the D&R Campground in China and is a co-owner of the Winterport Dragway car racing track, according to municipal records and social media. In her video interview, the girl said Eori has partial ownership of Air Control Industries, a business in Windsor.
Numerous people, including family members and friends of the victim and defendant, were on hand Monday to watch the trial at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta.
Superior Court Justice Daniel J. Mitchell is presiding at the trial, which is scheduled to continue this week.
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