NASHUA – A young man in his early 20s sat quietly in the back row of a Nashua courtroom Thursday, his eyes focusing alternately on several people he’d never met – and one man he knows quite well.

That man, 74-year-old Brookline resident Gerard Michaud, sat on the other side of the courtroom from the young man, his tall, slightly stooped frame occupying a seat at the defense table next to his attorney, Mark Gouthro.

Michaud was in court Thursday to enter guilty pleas to two misdemeanor counts of sexual assault, a small percentage of the 18 counts on which he was indicted just over a year ago.

They stemmed from the repeated sexual assaults Michaud was accused of committing against the young man, who at the time was renting a room from Michaud in his 40 Main St. home in Brookline.

Judge Jacalyn Colburn accepted the plea agreement, the terms of which sentence Michaud to two, 12-month terms in Valley Street jail, all suspended for five years on the condition of good behavior and compliance with other terms of the deal.

Those include a $500 fine, which Gouthro said his client was prepared to pay Thursday. Michaud must also continue to register with the state Sex Offender Registry as a Tier II offender, and he cannot have any contact with the victim.

The remaining 16 companion charges were dismissed as part of the agreement. But Michaud cannot petition to have those charges annulled until after the suspended sentences expire.

Neither Michaud, nor Gouthro, chose to address the court. However, Assistant County Attorney Michele Battaglia, the prosecutor, spoke briefly.

“I commend (the victim) for coming forward, and sticking with this,” she said, adding that he is in agreement with the terms of the plea deal.

He wrote a fairly brief victim impact statement, which he asked Battaglia to read to the court.

“I did not give (Michaud) permission to physically touch me … it was the same actions every time,” he said, referring to the pattern that police and prosecutors laid out, describing assaults occurring in a bedroom, in other parts of the house and in a camper on Michaud’s property.

“He was always intruding on my personal space and my privacy,” the young man wrote. After he moved out, the assaults “impacted me for the rest of the year.”

He said Michaud is “a liar … he should not be able to have tenants.

“People should know who he is,” the young man wrote.

Judge Jacalyn Colburn, in handing down the sentence, called it “important” that Michaud “took responsibility,” but she also shared the concerns the young man raised about Michaud having “access to people” by renting out rooms in his house.

“I think you’re getting a very good (deal),” Colburn said, cautioning Michaud that if he violates any of the terms of the agreement, he will more than likely face incarceration.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-1256, or, dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_DeanS.