A Gray man is facing charges that he molested an 8-year-old girl on four occasions over the last 2 1/2 years.

Timothy Cote, 33, was indicted last week by a Cumberland County grand jury on one charge of gross sexual assault, a Class A crime, and three charges of unlawful sexual contact, a Class B crime. Cote and the girl knew each other prior to the alleged assaults, court documents said.

Cote was arrested in May after the victim told a teacher at Russell Elementary School that Cote had sexually abused her, according to court documents.

The girl approached the teacher following a lesson by the school’s guidance counselor on the difference between “good touching and bad touching,” Det. John Fournier of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office testified in court documents.

The girl gave investigators and a child abuse specialist accounts of how Cote kissed and touched her inappropriately and asked her at one point if it felt good. She said Cote told her he would beat her if she told anyone about the incident.

During an interview with detectives, Cote eventually admitted that he had touched the victim on two occasions, though he denied the full scope of the allegations.

“He told me that he was an idiot and definitely needed help and wanted to tell someone what he did because he knew he was wrong,” Det. Brian Ackerman of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office wrote in court documents of his meeting with Cote.

Cote is scheduled to appear Feb. 20, 2009 in Cumberland County Superior Court.

Timothy Cote