Sabattus woman gets three years stemming from her husband's sex abuse of preteen

June 26--AUBURN -- A judge sentenced a Sabattus woman to serve three years in prison on Wednesday, two months after a jury found her guilty of charges stemming from her husband's repeated sexual assault of a preteen girl over a three-year period.

Christal "Natasha" Gagnier, 27, had faced up to 16 years in prison on the two felonies and one misdemeanor.

Androscoggin County Superior Court Justice MaryGay Kennedy imposed a seven-year sentence on Gagnier on a charge of tampering with a witness but suspended four years. Gagnier will be on probation for three years once she's released.

On the felony charge of aggravated furnishing of a scheduled drug, Gagnier was sentenced to a year in prison, to be served at the same time as the tampering sentence. Kennedy sentenced Gagnier to 364 days in jail on a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child, also concurrent with the sentence on the first felony.

Conditions of her probation include no contact with the victim nor anyone under the age of 18. She also must undergo sex offender treatment and mental health and psychological evaluations.

Gagnier's husband, Michael, 34, is serving 15 years of a 25-year prison sentence for nearly a dozen counts of gross sexual assault.

Christal Gagnier was convicted after a two-day trial. The victim, now 14 years old, took the witness stand and testified for more than an hour. She told Gagnier on Wednesday at her sentencing that she still loved her.

"I feel you failed me," said the teen, who wore a green and white dress. "You weren't there for me when I needed you most."

The Sun Journal doesn't disclose the identities of victims of sexual assaults.

Gagnier had testified at trial, but hadn't been able to persuade the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that she, also, had been victimized by her husband's actions to the point that she wasn't responsible for the crimes with which she was charged.

On Wednesday, her attorney, Allan Lobozzo, called two witnesses to testify that Christal Gagnier had sought counseling about the post-traumatic stress she suffered from having been sexually abused since she was 7 years old. She was 12 years old when she began dating Michael Gagnier, who had rescued her from another man's abuse before he, too, began to abuse her. At the same time, he was dating her mother. When Christal Gagnier became an adult, she married him.

The two therapists who testified on Wednesday said Gagnier was cooperative during their sessions, if somewhat submissive. One of the women, a social worker who led a group session, treated Gagnier as a sex offender. She said Gagnier hadn't learned about appropriate sexual boundaries because of her history of abuse starting at such a young age. She never admitted to being a sex offender.

Gagnier addressed the victim on Wednesday, telling her she loved her. "I am so sorry," she said, "that I could not be stronger ... I wasn't strong enough to do the right thing."

Assistant District Attorney Lisa Bogue told the judge that Gagnier was only interested in looking out for her own interests when she coached the girl not to reveal the abuse she had suffered in a different state before coming to Maine. When Gagnier fed the victim her prescription drugs for a sexually transmitted disease that she and the victim had caught from Michael Gagnier in an effort to keep the victim from disclosing the abuse, Christal Gagnier was thinking not about the victim but about herself, Bogue said.

Despite her own abuse, Gagnier abused the victim, Bogue said.

"Everything that was bad for Natasha was compounded for the victim here," Bogue said.

Bogue sought a six-year sentence for Gagnier with all but three years suspended. Lobozzo asked for a three-year sentence for his client, with all prison time suspended, plus probation.

Justice Kennedy said the victim "remarkably, bravely, courageously" twice reported her abuse. That eventually triggered a criminal investigation that resulted in Michael and Christal Gagnier's convictions.

"I am in awe of your bravery and your courage and you need to keep that with you going forward because this does not define you. Please remember that," Kennedy said. "None of this is your fault."

Kennedy said Christal Gagnier hadn't shown any evidence of remorse or compassion toward the victim until Wednesday and had been unwilling to accept responsibility.

In 2012, the victim told a school friend that Michael Gagnier had raped her. That friend passed along the victim's account to a guidance counselor. The victim later denied the abuse after she was threatened and verbally abused by Gagnier, according to prosecutors.

The victim disclosed again last year to the same friend, who told a youth worker at a Lewiston church retreat.

A Sabattus police officer said Michael Gagnier admitted in an interview to having sex with the girl over a three-year period, starting when the girl was 10, confirming the victim's account. Gagnier said he was abusing narcotics at that time.

He was arrested and charged nearly a year ago; Christal Gagnier was arrested in June.

Michael Gagnier eventually pleaded guilty to nearly a dozen counts of gross sexual assault and one count of tampering with a victim. He had been indicted by an Androscoggin County grand jury on more than three dozen counts of gross sexual assault.

After serving 15 years in prison, Gagnier will be on probation for 18 years.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com

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