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The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has dismissed one of two sexual abuse convictions against a former Aroostook County Jehovah’s Witness elder, and asked for him to be resentenced on the other count.
Ernest Fyans, a former elder for Kingdom Hall Jehovah’s Witness in Fort Kent, was found guilty in September 2023 of gross sexual assault, a Class A felony, and unlawful sexual contact, which under Maine law is a Class B crime.
The ruling on Tuesday upholds the assault judgment but nullifies that of unlawful sexual contact. Judges said the statute of limitations that was in place at the time should have applied to the lesser charge, and therefore Fyans should not have been convicted. Fyans was given concurrent sentences, so the judicial court panel wants a new sentence for the assault conviction.
The charges stemmed from allegations that, between 1990 and 1992, Fyans sexually abused two children younger than 12 whose parents belonged to the Kingdom Hall in Fort Kent, according to court records.
The victim of the second count, unlawful sexual contact, first reported she had been abused in 2002 when she was 16, according to court records. At that time, a six-year statute of limitations prevented the state from seeking prosecution.
Investigators revisited the allegations in 2020, and Fyans was indicted in 2021.
Fyan’s jury trial took place in 2023 at Caribou District Court. Fyans was sentenced in February 2024 to 20 years in prison on the first count and a concurrent five years in prison for the second count. Fyans called for acquittal of the charges during his trial and later appealed his sentence, according to court records.
In the ruling on Tuesday, judges agreed with Fyans’ claim that the trial court was wrong to deny his motions for acquittal because there was “insufficient evidence of Fyan’s residence at the time that the statute of limitations would have expired as it applied to count 2.”
The document does not name the victims, who were children at the time the alleged abuse happened.
Maine’s statute of limitation laws have changed since that time.
The most recent Maine Criminal Code stipulates that prosecution can happen at any time if the victim was under 18 in cases of incest, unlawful sexual contact, sexual abuse of a minor, rape or gross sexual assault, unlawful sexual touching or sexual exploitation of a minor.
However, during the period from 1990 to 1992 when the alleged crimes occurred, the statute of limitations was six years for unlawful sexual contact, according to the ruling. The victim first reported her experience in 2002, and since the state at trial could not prove whether Fyans lived outside Maine in order to apply state law, the statute of limitations should have applied.
On that basis, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the judgment for count 1, but vacated count 2.
Fyans was also among those named in a sex abuse lawsuit filed in January at Caribou District Court.
Former Maine resident Alexis Simendinger, who now lives in Pennsylvania, sued the Fort Kent Jehovah’s Witnesses and the New York-based headquarters of the church, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York Inc., for negligence and failing to keep her safe from harm. She claimed she endured sexual abuse committed by Fyans, as well as another elder and a church member.
Fyans’ attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mediation on that case will take place Sept. 8 in Caribou, according to court records.
