Landlord accused of fondling tenants' children commits suicide
A registered Raleigh sex offender committed suicide Monday morning, a few hours before he was scheduled to be in court on charges that he fondled children, according to the Wake County district attorney's office.
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Michael Assaad Lahoud was expected to plead guilty to eight counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor, according to prosecutor Melanie Shekita. He was facing an 8- to 10-year sentence, she said.
Lahoud, who had been out of jail on a $1.5 million bond since October 2008, was found dead in a car on Harps Mill Road, police said.
Authorities arrested Lahoud in September 2008 and charged him with fondling his tenant's children.
According to a Sept. 11, 2008, search warrant for his home, investigators spoke to four people who claimed Lahoud either fondled them or forced them to touch him on as many as five occasions. The allegations occurred when the victims were as young as 7 years old.
Court records also indicate Lahoud was arrested in November 1994 on an indecent liberties with a child charge, but it was dismissed in 1996.
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