UPDATE: ROCKLAND (Sept. 25, 2018) — Thomas Shell, 63, of Hope, made his initial court appearance Sept. 21 in Knox County Unified Court before Judge Barbara Raimondi. He was charged Sept. 19 by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office on two counts of gross sexual assault, a Class A felony, and one count of unlawful sexual contact, a Class B felony.

Shell did not enter a plea at the hearing since the case has not yet been presented to the grand jury. They will not meet again until November.

Judge Raimondi set Shell’s bail at $70,000 worth of real estate. His bail conditions include that he cannot have any contact with the female victim, who was nine years old when the alleged abuse began, and her family. Additionally, he must not have any unsupervised contact with anyone younger than 16 years old.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office was originally contacted by the Department of Health and Human Services Adult Protective Unit investigating the alleged sexual offenses. The victim had Facebook messenger conversations with Shell containing discussion about the alleged abuse, according to the police affidavit.

Shell is represented by Attorney Christopher MacLean of Camden.

ROCKLAND – A man from Hope has been arrested and charged with two counts of Gross Sexual Assault, a Class A Felony, and one count of Unlawful Sexual Contact, a Class B Felony.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 19, Thomas W. Shell Jr., 63, of Hope, was arrested on a warrant served by Sgt. John Palmer, of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, according to a news release from the KCSO.

In August of this year, Detective Justin Twitchell conducted an investigation into allegations of misconduct by Shell toward a person under the age of 12. The misconduct stems back to 2006, according to the release, and has been ongoing since.

Twitchell determined that there was probable cause in the allegations, according to the release.

Shell remains at the Knox County Jail.

Deputy Alicia Averill assisted Sergeant Palmer in the arrest.