Former Canton Twp. Man Pleads To Lesser Charges

A man who once lived in Canton Township was accused of felony child rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault and corruption of minors pleaded guilty to lesser charges of misdemeanor child endangerment and corruption of minors. Victor Ardeno, 81 was accused by a minor in September of 2023 that Ardeno sexually assaulted them in Ardeno’s home in 2020 when the victim was 11 years old.  The victim said that their siblings were in the room and witnessed the assault that occurred. Ardeno was sentenced to 11.5 months to 23 months in jail. He was immediately paroled. He will be on probation for 5 years once the sentence is complete. A victim’s impact statement said that they have endured years of pain and still have trust issues because of the assault. The deal nearly fell apart when defense counsel disagreed with a condition that Ardeno’s contact with minors be supervised. His lawyer said that he was not told of the condition. The judge stated that they were concerned with the condition being eliminated and that they would need time to consider whether to agree to the sentence. If the condition was agreed to, Ardeno would be free immediately. After a brief discussion, Ardeno agreed to the condition. Ardeno was released on Wednesday.