A trans-identified male from Bloomington, Illinois, is facing trial on eight counts of sexually abusing a child under the age of 13. Michelle Blessent, born James, was charged with five counts of predatory sexual assault earlier this year but is now facing three more in light of new evidence.
As previously reported by Reduxx, Blessent was initially arrested in April of 2023 and has been held in custody in McLean County Detention Facility since on a $1 million bond warrant. Blessent’s initial file included five counts of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Victim Under 13.
But on November 15, an additional three charges were applied, including one additional count of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Victim Under 13, one count of Grooming, and one count of Exploitation of a Child. In a public notice posted to their Facebook, the Bloomington Police Department confirmed that the new charges were related to the original victim.
While the relationship between Blessent and the victim has not been confirmed, court records and social media history demonstrates that Blessent is a father. He was pursued by child support enforcement in 2014 and ordered to provide assistance by a court after paternity was established.
At the time of his original arrest in April, a public information officer with the Department admitted that they were treating the arrest as that of a woman because of Blessent’s “gender identity.”
In a statement to local radio station Cities 92.9, Officer Brandt Parsley explained that Blessent’s arrest marked “uncharted territory for the police department.” He did confirm that Blessent had legally changed his name to Michelle, as evidenced by McLean County Circuit Clerk documents. According to the records, Blessent applied to change his name in July of 2022 and successfully completed the process in December.
Following the initial release of Blessent’s mugshot, many members of the community expressed confusion because the police had described Blessent as “female.” On Facebook, many took to the Bloomington Police Department’s comments to note that Blessent was male, and that describing him as a “woman” was inaccurate.
As a result, some trans activists defended Blessent in the comments, condemning the Bloomington Police Department for not censoring “transphobic” remarks on their press release.
Blessent has had other run-ins with the justice system over the years, including city ordinance and driving violations as well as a domestic battery case which was dropped after the victim declined prosecution.
Blessent does have a Facebook profile with the most recent posts being from 2017. It appears Blessent did not identify as transgender at the time his Facebook account was active, but he did declare his affiliation with the Rastafari Movement.
Disturbingly, it appears Blessent had access very young children at that time, though it is unconfirmed if the children in the photos are his own.
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