GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A 22-year-old woman who said she "came from hell" when she moved from Iraq to the United States, is now facing time behind bars for allegedly molesting a 14-year-old girl.

Azal Saleh is charged with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct against a girl who was spending the night at a home where the Iraqi native was living.

At the Grandville home where Saleh was staying, the 14-year-old family friend was sleeping in the same basement bedroom as Saleh when the alleged incident occurred on Feb. 16, court records show.

The teen told police that Saleh, also known as "Mary," was rubbing the girl's arm and chest and was told to stop. She said that Saleh assured it was OK and a normal thing for friends to do, according to Grandville police reports.

The girl said that when the touching moved from over the clothes to under and then to the pubic region, she told the older woman that she was menstruating which ceased the molestation, according to an affidavit filed in Grandville District Court. The girl said there was no penetration.

A Grandville Police officer reported that Saleh told investigators that the two would "joke and play with each other by touching the other's breasts in a joking way."

Officer Alex Niesen wrote that Saleh admitted it was inappropriate for a 22-year-old to touch a 14-year-old's breasts.

Saleh came to the United States in 2010 and has been working on completing her high school education while learning English at Covenant House Academy, a Grand Rapids charter school devoted to alternative education.

Related: Childhood friends from Baghdad reunite at Michigan charter school

An April article on MLive featured Saleh as she was reunited with a childhood friend at the academy, who also ended up in West Michigan.

"A lot of bad things happened to me," Saleh said of her time in Iraq. "I came from hell, mistreated and abused."

Saleh has a 2-year-old daughter and currently lives on Grand Rapids' West Side, according to court records.

Last week, Saleh rejected a plea offer from the Kent County Prosecutor's Office that would have required her to plead to one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with the other being dropped. The charge would have carried sentencing guidelines of no more than nine months in the Kent County Jail.

Saleh rejected the offer and in the hallway of the Kent County Court House proclaimed her innocence.

A trial is scheduled for Nov. 9 before Judge Dennis Leiber. Saleh faces a maximum of two years in prison if convicted.

A conviction or plea could affect her residency status in the United States, according to the State Appellate Defenders Office.

E-mail Barton Deiters: bdeiters@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/GRPBarton or Facebook at facebook.com/bartondeiters.5