Former Wranglers player faces charges of sexually abusing minor

By Brian Nordli (contact)

Published Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012 | 7:25 p.m.

Updated Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012 | 5:07 p.m.

A former Las Vegas Wranglers hockey player and assistant coach faces nine charges of allegedly sexually abusing a girl for four years, starting before she was a teen.

Michael McBain, 35, was arrested on various sexual assault charges against a minor on July 5, a Metro Police arrest report said. The report indicated that McBain had started sexually abusing the girl in 2008, when she was 12 years old.

The report said the abuse escalated from inappropriate touching to sexual assault about the time the girl turned 14.

At the same time, the report said that McBain allegedly created a fake AIM email account under the name of a Wranglers' hockey player the girl had a crush on. Under the account McBain sent the girl emails requesting her to send sexual pictures of herself for money, the report said. The girl also told police she received pictures of male genitalia from the email account, the report said.

The report said the girl told her mother about the sexual abuse in late May, and when the mother confronted McBain about the allegations, he denied them and fled to Oregon to visit his brother. While there, the report said, McBain was admitted to a hospital after he tried to commit suicide.

The report said the mother once again confronted McBain about the allegations in Oregon, and he confessed. He then retained an attorney and turned himself in, the report said.

The mother told police she had not been aware of the sexual abuse before May, according to the report.

McBain faces two counts of lewdness with a child under age 14, one count of sexual assault with a minor under age 14, four counts of sexual assault with a minor under 16 year old and two counts of open and gross lewdness.