10 felonies dropped in child porn plea deal
Ten felony charges related to child pornography have been dismissed for a 20-year-old Commerce Township man in a plea deal with the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office.
Sentencing is next month for three remaining charges.
At a recent hearing before Oakland County Circuit Judge Victoria Valentine, Gavin Kassab pleaded no contest to one count of using a computer to commit a crime, for which he faces up to seven years in prison, and two counts of possession of child pornography, punishable by up to four years in prison. In the plea deal, prosecutors dropped two counts of aggravated child sexually abusive activity, three counts of aggravated sexually abusive activity – distributing or promoting, and five counts of using computers to commit a crime. Three charges were added — possession of child pornography and using a computer to commit a crime.
Kassab's charges stem from allegations out of West Bloomfield that he sent harassing messages and links to explicit videos of a 16-year-old to her and her parents in July 2022. He was also accused of livestreaming explicit videos of the victim to his Instagram account.
A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing purposes. It can also offer some protection in civil liability cases.
Any prison time he gets will be tacked on to the 8-15 years he was sentenced to in June in connection with the March 2023 fatal crash in Walled Lake which killed Piper Carrothers, 13, of Commerce Township and injured several others. Kassab was sitting in the front seat of a 2023 Jeep Gladiator, reportedly encouraging the 15-year-old unlicensed driver, Azlaan Shah Khan, to flee from police in pursuit after running a red light when the collision occured. Khan crashed into the Carrothers' car and two other vehicles at the intersection of Maple and Decker roads, and then he and Kassab ran from the scene. They were charged two months later.
Last April, Kassab pleaded no contest to charges of manslaughter, reckless driving causing death, first-degree fleeing and eluding causing death and two counts of second-degree fleeing and eluding. Khan, of West Bloomfield, pleaded no contest in May to manslaughter, reckless driving causing death, first-degree fleeing and eluding causing death and two counts of second-degree fleeing and eluding, and leaving the scene of an accident. He's scheduled to be sentenced this Thursday, Sept. 26.
Kassab's sentencing for the child pornography/computer crimes is scheduled for Oct. 15.
