A 43-year-old Kennebunk man has been charged by Westbrook police with one count of sexual abuse of a minor after he allegedly engaged in a sexual act with a 14-year-old girl inside a darkened gym in Westbrook.

Jeremy R. Link was arrested Saturday, the same day the incident allegedly occurred, according to Cumberland County Assistant District Attorney Nichole Albert.

At Link’s initial court appearance Monday at the Cumberland County Unified Criminal Court in Portland, the prosecutor said the alleged victim’s father went to the gym to pick up his daughter and walked into the darkened facility to find the two of them together, Link with his pants around his ankles, Albert said. Albert didn’t specify what the girl’s father did, other than to say police were called.

According to Albert, the girl told police that she and Link had oral sex and intercourse. The court file on the charge has been impounded.

Bail was set Monday at $15,000 cash or $100,000 secured bond. Albert asked Superior Court Justice Lance Walker for $25,000 cash bail, while Gary Prolman, Link’s lawyer, asked that his client be released on personal recognizance. When Walker indicated he was going to set bail at $15,000 cash, Prolman asked that $100,000 secured bond be offered as an alternative, indicating Link’s parents would use their home as collateral for their son’s release.

He said that Link will live with his parents while his case is before the court. Prolman refused after the hearing to say where Link’s parents live, but did say that he expects Link to be released from the Cumberland County Jail on Tuesday, after bail paperwork is completed.

According to his Facebook page, Link teaches tumbling and gymnastics at two Maine businesses. One of them, Elite All-Stars of Maine, is located in Westbrook.

Authorities in court did not specify the name or location of the gym or facility where the crime is alleged to have take place.

Prolman said his client was changing clothes when the girl’s father walked into the gym. Albert said Link told police that as well, and that he used “poor judgment” in deciding to change in front of the girl.

Prolman also said that the statement from the alleged victim was “coerced,” but Albert said that while the girl was emotional during the interview with police, the information wasn’t coerced.

Prolman said there were no eyewitnesses or videotape from the alleged encounter; Albert said the gym’s video cameras had been unplugged.

Albert also said additional charges against Link may be filed.

Julie Dvilinsky, owner of Elite All-Stars of Maine, a cheerleading and gymnastics facility on Bradley Drive in Westbrook, said she has employed Link for about a year to teach a weekly tumbling class.

Dvilinsky said she first heard about Link’s arrest from a reporter, and that no one from the Westbrook Police Department had contacted her regarding him. She said Link passed a background check when she hired him.

“We call it an open tumbling class and kids come in if they want to learn some tumbling skills,” she said of the class Link taught.

Dvilinsky said her gym was closed last week for school vacation and no classes were held, although the business’s Facebook page indicated that there was a tumbling clinic held Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday that week. The Facebook page does not indicate who taught the class.

Dvilinsky said Link also works at another gym, Dudziak’s School of Gymnastics in Biddeford, where he taught ninja classes, a combination of gymnastics and obstacle course training. Dvilinsky also said Link owned a construction business and Link’s Facebook page has references to a business called Custom Link Home Improvement in Old Orchard Beach. A message left there wasn’t returned Monday.

A woman who answered the phone at Dudziak’s said Monday afternoon that Link had worked at the gym for less than a year and that police have not contacted them regarding Link or the investigation.

The woman declined to comment further before hanging up the phone.

 

 

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