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COURT DOCS: Abduction suspect has history of sexual abuse against minors

Court records show Franklin Delano Farley Jr., 39, is a registered sex offender. He's now facing new charges for two assaults against children.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The man accused of luring children in a string of kidnapping attempts has a documented history of sexual assault. 

Court records show Franklin Delano Farley Jr., 39, was charged for second degree criminal sexual conduct charges for a person under the age of 13 back in June of 2005.

Farley admitted to investigators during a mental competency exam that a group of five men caught him on top of a 13-year-old boy trying to take his pants off in downtown Grand Rapids along the Grand River near the 6th Street Bridge.

“Our clothes were on,” he said. Farley told investigators that he knew the victim because he used to live next door to him for two years and they had been friends since.

Farley told officials that the group of men heard the victim screaming and beat Farley up until police could arrive. Court records show that Farley’s right eye appeared to have blood in it believed to have been a broken blood vessel resulting from the incident.

He also told investigators that he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of this assault and did it in part because he was “horny”.

RELATED: Charges filed against abduction suspect in two separate child assaults

Records show Farley was born in Grand Rapids and grew up in the area but also had ties to Kansas City and Alabama. He told investigators that he did not have a stable environment at home and lived at more places than he could count.

He pledged to “hang with people my own age and stay away from minors” and to stop drinking because “it causes too many problems”.

THE PUNISHMENT

Farley pled guilty to the charges back on September 2005 and was sentenced to a minimum of 1 year to a maximum of 15 years in prison in November of 2005.

Records from the Michigan Department of Corrections show Farley was released from prison on December 10, 2020. That’s when he started living in a tent behind Hansen Mechanic and Tool Corp, according to the owner Bill Hansen.

Hansen said Farley and his friend would live behind the business between May and November and then go to shelters to stay in the winter.

Hansen was there as Grand Rapids police searched the tent for evidence in this case.

ABUSE AT HOME

Farley also told officials he was molested when he was 13-year-old by someone who was later arrested.

When asked why he committed this crime against the young boy when he did not like being molested at a young age, he could not give an answer.

He also talked about how he was physically abused by his parents growing up including being “hit in the privates by belts”.

MENTAL HEALTH HISTORY

Court documents show Farley has a history of mental health issues and was getting help between the ages of 10-13.

“I was going crazy from the abuse and was hallucinating,” he explained.

Records show Farley had attended special education classes in Kent County and only completed school up to the 9th grade because he didn’t wish to attend anymore.

EMPLOYMENT

Farley had been collecting Social Security and Disability benefits monthly but couldn’t live off the money he was getting and had other jobs along the way.

Records show he spent time working on a paper route and also washing dishes for a restaurant in White Cloud.

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