ORANGE – An Orange District Court judge Wednesday sentenced Gregory J. Batchelor of Athol to 18 months in jail following a conviction on four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years old, according to the Northwestern District Attorney’s office.

Batchelor, 50, was convicted by a jury on four counts of indecent assault and battery involving two victims at a location in Athol in 2019 and 2022.

The trial ran for two days, during which five children and an adult testified on behalf of the commonwealth and Batchelor took the stand in his defense, according to the DA’s office. The case was prosecuted by Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Jillian Parent. The defense attorney was Alexander Sneirson of Springfield.

“These convictions were the result of a collaborative effort between the District Attorney’s Office, Athol Police Department Detectives Douglas Kaczmarcyk and Corey Chauvette and our Family Service Advocate Moira McDonald,” said Parent. “The heroes here are the young girls who had the bravery to come forward and recount these crimes. We believe justice was served by the jury verdict and subsequent sentence.”

According to the DA’s office, Orange District Court Judge Danielle Williams sentenced Batchelor to 18 months in the Franklin House of Correction, to be followed by three years on probation with conditions that he have no contact with the victims; register as a sex offender; have no unsupervised contact with children under 16 years old; undergo substance use and sex offender evaluations and participate in any recommended treatment; and remain drug and alcohol free.