PORT SHELDON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The 60-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting a young woman in Port Sheldon Township in early September has a criminal history with strikingly similar accusations from decades past.
Gregory Joseph DuJardine, 60, is now facing charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct as an habitual offender (fourth offense).
Released from prison in January, DuJardine was out on parole for a criminal sexual conduct charge from 1988.
He is currently sitting in the Ottawa County Jail on a $500,000 cash/ surety bond.
A 24-year-old woman told deputies that she was at Duncan Woods in Grand Haven Sunday evening September 8 when she got the feeling she was being followed.
Suspicious, she decided to leave the area, but the man followed close behind.
The man then allegedly drove his silver SUV into her Jeep near US-31 and Lake Michigan Drive, but both vehicles continued for another few miles.
Captain Jacob Sparks with the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office said that it was a minor crash.
Thinking the man wanted to exchange information and file a police report, the 24-year-old got out of her car. The woman took out her phone and started a video recording as he approached.
That's when the man attacked her, touching her inappropriately, according to deputies.
The woman was able to fight the man off and call 911.
Shockingly, court documents newly obtained by FOX 17 show this is not the first time DuJardine has been accused of following a woman and attacking her.
In April of 1986, DuJardine was accused of following a woman as she left her place of employment in Grand Haven, near the intersection of S. Beechtree and Waverly.
The woman walked to her car and started fumbling through her purse for her keys. As she was busy doing that, DuJardine reportedly came from behind and grabbed her, covering her mouth with his hand.
She told investigators he was wearing gloves and a stocking cap and camouflage bandana over his face.
Court documents from 1986 say he threw the woman to the ground and sexually assaulted her.
DuJardine was allegedly telling the woman “to shut up and be quiet and not make so much noise... you better shut up or you’ll regret it”.
For some reason, the woman explained, he changed his demeanor at some point.
As the documents explain, “He loosened his grip sufficiently to allow her to bolt, and she did.”
All of a sudden, he decided to pursue her again as she fled. He threw her to the ground, causing a “big bump on the back of her head”.
The documents went on to say as this was going on, the woman was screaming for help. Eventually, four men approached the scene to see what was happening.
Despite DuJardine’s efforts to run away and hide, he was soon discovered by a police officer.
The officer testified in court that DuJardine told him “I don’t know what happened… all I wanted to do was talk”.
DuJardine continued, “All I wanted to do is to talk to her, and then, all of a sudden, I had my hands all over her. My girlfriend will kill me. I’m going to be married soon.”
Another person on scene testified at the time that they heard DuJardine say, “I did it. I did it. I’m crazy. Send me to prison. If my girlfriend finds out, she will kill me.”
Yet another piece of testimony has DuJardine telling people on scene, “I’m sick; I want to kill myself; kill me now.”
Investigators brought him into the police station to try and get more details about what happened.
“I had an argument with my girlfriend; I was feeling upset,” DuJardine told them.
“I got on my bike to take a bike ride, to maybe work off a little aggression. I rode over to the back of the MSI restaurant and sat down there to have a cigarette.”
The investigators did not seem to believe he was telling the truth— with prosecutors highlighting to the jury at trial that he was wearing an unusual amount of facial coverings at the time.
“Why he would go there in a stocking cap and a bandanna, a camouflage bandanna, I'll leave that to you to evaluate,” a prosecutor told the jury.
DuJardine was eventually found guilty on the CSC, 2nd degree charge and sentenced to serve two to 15 years in prison.
He was out by July, 1988, as he was again arrested for criminal sexual conduct, this time in the first degree.
For that crime, he was sentenced to life in prison.
Despite the life term, DuJardine was paroled on January 9, 2024.
FOX 17 has reached out to the Michigan Department of Corrections for information on why he was released when he was, but we have yet to hear back.
Anyone who may have witnessed any part of the incident on September 8, 2024, is asked to contact the Sheriff's Office at (616) 734-4000, or submit info anonymously through Silent Observer at 1-877-88-SILENT.
Investigators still want to speak with a potential witness still out there: someone at the gas station that evening driving a green pick up truck, with "wood side rails" on the truck's bed.
They believe this person may have witnessed the assault itself, or the activity leading up to the assault.
Follow FOX 17: Facebook - X (formerly Twitter) - Instagram - YouTube
