MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP, MI – A doctor's examination of a 6-year-old Muskegon County girl who was infected with a sexually transmitted disease led authorities to a Muskegon Township man who has been charged with sexually assaulting the child.

A warrant has been signed charging Brian Lee Gillespie, 33, of Muskegon Township, with criminal sexual conduct, first-degree, which involves penetration, said Muskegon County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Maat.

The maximum penalty for that sex offense is life in prison, or any term of years.

Gillespie has also been charged as a second-time habitual offender for a resisting and obstructing police conviction from 2012.

Maat said Gillespie allegedly sexually assaulted the child at a Muskegon Township home from January 2013 to September 2013. An investigation was launched after Child Protective Service was contacted after a physician confirmed the child had a sexually transmitted disease, Maat said.

Muskegon Township Police officials and CPS then launched a joint investigation which led them to Gillespie.

Maat declined to say how Gillespie knows the girl as to not to identify the young victim.

The mother of the child has been cooperative with the investigation from the start, Maat said.

Gillespie was only recently located by authorities, who arrested and lodged him in the Muskegon County Jail on Wednesday, Oct. 1. He is being held on a $200,000 cash or surety bond. As of 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, he had not yet been arraigned.

Heather Lynn Peters covers police and fire, and writes a statewide food column, The Spunky Kitchen, for MLive Muskegon Chronicle. Email her at hpeters@mlive.com and follow her on Twitter @HLPNEWS.