A Cassopolis man has been convicted of criminal sexual conduct in the rape of his daughters.
The Cass County Prosecutor’s office says 39-year-old Craig Lawrence repeatedly raped his two minor daughters in their Cassopolis family home from 2010 to 2019. His trial ended Thursday with guilty verdicts on ten counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct and seven counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct.
The prosecutor says both daughters, now 21 and 14 years of age, testified their father began grooming them at an early age and eventually raped them on several occasions over the course of a decade. Lawrence’s wife also testified about the controlling nature of the defendant and said when the two girls came forward and disclosed what had happened, she reported the crimes to the Cass County Sheriff’s Department, which then investigated the case.
Lawrence said during testimony the daughters were seeking some kind of financial gain with the allegations.
It took the jury less than three hours to return with the guilty verdicts. Lawrence is facing up to 250 years in prison and will be sentenced January 26.
