Couple pleads to sex assault after hosting teen parties with alcohol, marijuana

Christopher Haxel | Lansing State Journal

CHARLOTTE - A husband and wife from Eaton County have pleaded to sex assault and other charges after allegedly giving underage teens alcohol and marijuana and having sex with them.

John Louis-Perkins Brown, 41, and Ashley Nicole Brown, 30, each pleaded no contest to charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and harboring a runaway.

John Louis-Perkins Brown also pleaded no contest to five counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. His attorney declined to comment.

Ashley Nicole Brown, meanwhile, pleaded no contest to one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. In exchange, prosecutors dropped three similar counts.

Her attorney could not be reached for comment.

They each face up to 15 years in prison. A sentencing hearing is set for Aug. 10.

One victim told police that in November 2015, when she was 15 years old, Ashley Brown picked her up in Jackson and drove her to the couple's home near Charlotte, according to a transcript of court testimony from a Michigan State Police trooper.3

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While there, the teen consumed alcohol and marijuana and "expressed interest" in John Brown, the trooper said.

Ashley Brown gave her husband a condom and "whispered into his ear that (the victim) was interested in having sex with him," the trooper testified. John Brown then took the girl upstairs and sexually assaulted her.

The girl ran away from home about a month after the first incident, the trooper testified. She stayed with the Browns and said the couple at one point hid her in their attic when Eaton County Sheriff's Deputies visited to inquire about the girl's whereabouts.

A second victim told police John Brown sexually assaulted her in 2015 on a couch in his living room, said the trooper, who was not identified in the transcript.

Both victims said they and other minors had “frequented” the Browns’ home in rural Eaton County over a six-week period, the trooper said.

“Everyone partaked and was partaking in the smoking of the marijuana and the drinking of the alcohol," he said.

Contact Christopher Haxel at 517-377-1261 or chaxel@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisHaxel.