BRIDGTON – A Bridgton man who was facing trial in New Hampshire on charges of sexual assault of a minor committed suicide at his Bridgton home early Monday morning.

Roger Goode, who was indicted in New Hampshire for having an ongoing sexual affair with a teenage girl, was found dead in a building on his Del Chadbourne Road property Monday morning at 6:45 by his wife, Bridgton police Officer Josh Muise said Tuesday. Muise labeled the death a suicide but released few details of the manner of death.

“He was found deceased and it is not considered suspicious. It is not under investigation,” Muise said.

Goode, 65, was set to appear later Monday in Rockingham County Courthouse on five counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, four counts of felonious sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He was facing decades in jail in convicted.

The lead detective in the case, Robert Kelley of the Hampstead Police Department, said Goode “was known to the victim and the victim’s family for a long period of time; he was a longtime family friend.”

Kelley said Goode had sent a text message to a female minor that were “sexual in nature” and had met with the teen in 2009 several times for sex. After the victim’s mother, who had discovered Goode’s text messages on her daughter’s phone, brought the situation to the attention of the Hampstead police, Kelley posed as the victim by sending multiple text messages over a period of five days and was able to lure Goode to a parking lot at the Colby Corner Plaza in Hampstead, where he was arrested Jan. 27, 2010.

“We put a lot of work and effort into this case,” Kelley said, “and unfortunately the apparent suicide prevents the victim from getting the justice that she deserves.”

Roger Goode