BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE AUTAUGA NEWS
An alleged incident over Memorial Day weekend has left an Elmore County man in jail on a charge of rape first-degree and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Michael Wayne Levchik, 42, remains in Elmore County Jail on no bond, awaiting an Aniah’s Law hearing. His booking information on the jail roster shows he is from Holtville.
“Over Memorial Day weekend, Levchik was apparently boating with friends. At some point he and the alleged victim were left alone in the boat. Levchik then drove the pontoon boat into a private area in a slough where the sexual activity allegedly occurred,” Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin said. “There is also information that a large amount of alcohol was given to the 17-year-old female who is the reported victim.”
Franklin said that detectives talked to both the reported victim and Levchik, and their stories are similar, but the female said the sexual acts were not consensual.
The incident reportedly occurred May 25. The reported victim came with a parent to the sheriff’s department on May 27 to give information about a sexual assault. Levchik was taken into custody and arrested on May 29.
Levchik will be held without bond until a hearing can be set under Aniah’s Law.
Aniah Law was enacted by the Alabama legislature and signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey in May 2020. It is officially known as Act 2019-518.
This law is named after Aniah Blanchard, a 19-year-old college student who was kidnapped and murdered in Alabama in 2019. The man charged with her murder, Ibraheem Yazeed, was free on bond for kidnapping and attempted murder charges at the time he killed Blanchard.
Aniah Law Alabama was created to prevent situations where potentially dangerous defendants are released on bond and able to commit more violent crimes before their trial. It aims to improve public safety by giving judges more discretion to deny bonds to defendants charged with certain violent offenses.
The provisions of Aniah’s Law Alabama apply to defendants charged with the following violent crimes :
Murder
Kidnapping in the first degree
Rape in the first degree
Sodomy in the first-degree
Sexual torture
Domestic violence in the first-degree
Human trafficking in the first-degree
Burglary in the first degree
Arson in the first-degree
Robbery in the first degree
Terrorism
Aggravated child abuse
