Kalamazoo, Mich. — A Portage business owner accused of being sexually assaulted by two former employees with whom he was most recently involved has pleaded guilty to lesser charges and is scheduled to be sentenced next week.
Joshua Geiger, 40, was arraigned in January. 11, and was sent to Kalamazoo County Circuit Court in March 2022 on two counts of felony third-degree sexual offenses and three counts of fourth-degree sexual offenses in connection with the allegations of sexual assault by the two women.
Geiger, owner of American Screen Printing, at 6625 Lovers Lane, pleaded guilty Nov. 12 to two counts of misdemeanor domestic violence. The Kalamazoo County Attorney’s Office confirmed the incident via MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette on Sept. 9.
related: Two ex-employees detail alleged sexual assault by Portage business owner
Geiger will be sentenced on Monday, November. 21, before Kalamazoo County Circuit Judge Pamela Lightvoet.
Geiger, who has no criminal background, will likely receive probation in the case, Chief Assistant Attorney Jeffrey Williams of the Kalamazoo County Attorney’s Office told MLive.
Two women implicated and charged against Geiger testified at a preliminary hearing in March, each saying he forced them to have sex at home and at work.
The first woman testified that she worked for Geiger at the printing shop and cared for his two children while living with him in 2017 and 2018. She said Geiger would repeatedly ask for sex and get angry if she didn’t say yes. The woman said Geiger would tell her she didn’t really love him unless she did what he asked.
In one case, Geiger arranged to have sex with another man and the woman he found on Craigslist, the woman said. She said she did it only to appease his constant begging.
Geiger denied any sex was non-consensual when questioned by police, according to court documents.
The woman said “numerous times” the accused had “expected” oral sex at the printing house, which she described as “humiliating”.
A second woman who lived and worked with Geiger for about a year from the summer of 2018 to the summer of 2019 described a similar situation. She said Guyger would sexually assault her while she slept on his couch and “laughed it off” when she asked him to stop.
“He didn’t respect my words don’t touch me,” the woman testified at the March hearing.
After she lost her job, Geiger offered her a job at a printing shop, the woman said. On her first day, he touched her vagina and kissed her against her will, she testified.
The woman said Geiger, who was still working at the printing factory, would repeatedly ask for sexual encounters and would “lash out” and make her feel guilty if she didn’t say yes.
Defense attorney Jennifer Weise questioned the motives of the two women during the preliminary hearing, claiming they were encouraged by Geiger’s ex-wife to help her win the custody battle over the children.
Weise also contended that the women consented to the sex, as evidenced by text messages with Geiger. Both women expressed their love for Geiger and chose to remain romantically involved with the man, she said.
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