Christopher Dionne, who starred in an HGTV pilot called Family Flip in 2015, was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in jail for molesting a 10-year-old girl in his Connecticut home.
Per court documents, he received seven years in prison — which will be suspended after three years served — and 10 years of probation following his release. According to The Day of New London, he will be required to register as a sexual offender and adhere to a criminal protective order which prohibits him from contacting the victim for the remainder of his life.
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Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed reportedly considered the 37-year-old’s lack of a criminal record and seriousness of the offense while crafting the sentence.
While the victim was not present for the sentencing, the child’s mother was in attendance and spoke about how her daughter “was subject to public humiliation and the target of hate messages on social media” after the family first went to the police in 2017. When asked if he wanted to make a statement, Dionne thanked family and friends for their support and expressed gratitude to the prosecutor.
As we previously reported, Dionne turned himself into Connecticut State Police in January 2018 after an active warrant for his arrest was issued, and he was released on a $100K bond.
Dionne’s victim, a friend of his own daughter, said she was touched inappropriately while at a birthday sleepover at his home in November 2017.
Warning: Graphic Details
Per her statement, Christopher woke her up by placing his hand under her pajamas against her buttocks while she laid on her stomach. She said he later reached his hand under her bra to jiggle her chest, and allegedly took a photo on his phone.
As Dionne’s teenage son and daughter of the same age were in the same room sleeping, he molested her again within several hours. During the assault, he asked the victim if she wished to see his genitals:
“Are you a big girl or a little girl?”
He also told her:
“If you tell your mom, I’ll go to jail and (my daughter) won’t have a daddy.”
She refused his advances, and he eventually went to his room. Unfortunately, a similar incident happened just two months earlier when the former TV host asked the girl if she wanted to kiss his genitals.
Authorities were contacted by the victim’s mother on November 27 after the second incident, who visited his home three days later. At the time, he was in California filming a new home remodeling show, House Rescue, with his twin brother for A&E.
At the time, he admitted to having an interaction with the young girl but claimed she was awake and wrapped her arms around him to rub his chest. Dionne went on to say he told the girl what she was doing was “inappropriate” and “big girl stuff,” and he rubbed her back when she began to cry before returning to his room.
Dionne is currently incarcerated at Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center in Montville, Connecticut.
[Image via Connecticut State Police.]
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