Former HGTV Host Sentenced to Prison for Molesting Daughter's 10-Year-Old Best Friend
It’s one of every parents’ worst nightmares: That allowing your child to participate in the innocent childhood staple of a sleepover will result in your child being sexually assaulted.
While it’s horrible to have to consider every time your kid asks whether or not they can spend the night at a friend’s house, many times a sleepover gives would-be molesters direct access to your child.
Christopher Dionne, known for a short stint in a pilot episode of a remodeling show that aired on HGTV four years ago and for currently working on another series with A&E, was recently found guilty in just such a case.
It started in September 2017, when his daughter’s best friend — who was on the same soccer team as his daughter — spent the night. According to what state police told WVIT, at some point during her stay, Dionne asked the 10-year-old girl if she wanted to kiss his genitals.
In November, during another sleepover, Dionne apparently intensified his advances. According to WVIT, the victim said she had “been sleeping on the couch and Dionne was touching her buttocks when she woke up in the middle of the night,” and that he “touched her chest and took a photo as he held her shirt up.”
He then asked the victim if she wanted to see his genitals, asking her if she was “a big girl or a little girl.”
When the victim refused, Dionne allegedly urged her not to tell anyone what had gone on, saying “if you tell your mom, I’ll go to jail and (my daughter) won’t have a daddy.”
All of this happened while Dionne’s 14-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter were asleep in the same room, according to the victim, who told her mother of the incident the following day.
Dionne’s version of the story included some of the same words but a very different situation. He said that the victim was awake when he entered the room, and when he sat on the couch next to her she started to touch his stomach and put her arm around his waist.
According to state police as referenced by WVIT, Dionne told the girl her actions were inappropriate, and when she persisted, he said “That’s big girl stuff.”
Dionne then reportedly said that the girl began crying, so he rubbed her back and then went back to his own room.
The former HGTV host was arrested in January 2018, convicted in October 2019 and recently sentenced to 3 years in prison. He was convicted of fourth-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.
“Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed said that in crafting the sentence of seven years in prison, suspended after three years served, followed by 10 years of sexual offender probation, she had considered his lack of a criminal record and the seriousness of the offense,” The Day of New London reported.
The news outlet also reported that during the trial it came out that Dionne and the victim’s mother had been texting each other inappropriately before the victim told her mother what was going on. Dionne’s wife also is reportedly separated from him and filing for divorce.
“Mom, this ruined everybody’s life,” the victim said, as relayed through her mother and reported by The Day. “I should have never told. I just wanted to be a normal kid.”
According to the mother, the victim “was subject to public humiliation and the target of hate messages on social media” after the story came out.
When People reached out to HGTV for comment, it responded saying, “The individual referenced appeared in a pilot that premiered on our network in 2015. The pilot was not picked up for series.”
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