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The Criminal Past of Brooke's Uncle

We have learned more about Brooke Bennett's uncle Michael Jacques and his prior conviction for kidnapping and rape in 1992.

Jacques, 42, was charged Monday with raping a child repeatedly for five years and taking part in a sex ring called Breckenridge. This is not the first time the 42-year-old has been the focus of a sex crime investigation.

In 1993, he was convicted of kidnapping and rape committed in June 1992. Court records show that the victim was an 18-year-old young woman he supervised at a fast-food business in Rutland. The records show he and a friend got her drunk and then Jacques alone forced her into his car and over the next four hours raped her several times. The police affidavit says she was choked with a rope around her neck, gagged with a cloth in her mouth, and handcuffed with police-style cuffs. Police say Jacques eventually let her go after he told her he needed help and was going to seek psychiatric counseling.

The victim told police that Jacques said he had killed a 12-year-old girl he raped in Arizona in 1985 because she threatened to go to the police, "so he had to kill her."

The police were unable to confirm his claimed killing of the 12-year-old in Arizona, but Jacques did plead no contest to the charges of kidnap and rape in Vermont. In return, under a plea agreement, he got six years in prison, but was released after serving only four and half with credit for good time.

That 1992 plea deal also required Jacques to complete the sex offender treatment program before he could be released from probation. According to the records, he did complete the therapy program, and was released from state supervision in December 2006. Corrections officials say Jacques completed his sex offender treatment program in 2000.

Jacques does have another conviction-- in 1985 in Washington County for lewd and lascivious conduct. We are working to get the records in that case.

Read the affidavit containing the police evidence against Michael Jacques in the CURRENT case.**

**WARNING: This document contains graphic and explicit content not suitable for children. WCAX News chose to black out some information from this document that we feel may identify the victim.