Court adjourns case of young man struggling with sex offender label until January

The case of a man accused of living near a school after being convicted of having sex with a high school girlfriend who was below the legal age of consent was adjourned today until Jan. 4.

Matthew Freeman, 23, of Pittsfield Township, who is required to register as a sex offender, is charged with a school safety zone residency violation. He appeared briefly in front of 14A District Court Judge J. Cedric Simpson and the case was adjourned until next month.

Freeman's attorney, Washtenaw County Assistant Public Defender Ronald Brown, requested more time to work on the case.

Freeman is accused of illegally living within 1,000 feet of Carpenter Elementary School. If convicted of the misdemeanor charge, he faces up to a year in jail.

Freeman was playing basketball in his driveway Aug. 3 when a state trooper pulled up and determined Freeman was living 326 feet from the school, a police report said. Freeman had registered under the Dalton Avenue address with Pittsfield Township police 27 days earlier.

Freeman was sentenced to probation in 2003 after being convicted of having sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend when he was 17. He pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with force or coercion. In Michigan, the legal age of consent is 16.

As a result of Freeman’s conviction, he was required to register as a sex offender for 25 years.

The girl's mother, Evelyn Scott, who pressed charges against Freeman in the 2003 case, recently wrote a letter on his behalf and wants him removed from the registry.