HGTV Pilot Star Will Serve Three Years In State Prison For Sexual Assault On 10-Year-Old Girl

Bruce Haring

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A former HGTV pilot star has been sentenced to serve three years in prison for sexual assault.

Christopher Dionne, who once filmed an HGTV pilot that never aired, was convicted in October of molesting a 10-year-old girl in his Connecticut home during a sleep-over hosted by his daughter. Dionne, 37, lived in Old Lyme and was found guilty of risk of injury to a minor and fourth-degree sexual assault.

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UPDATE: The star of an HGTV home remodeling pilot has been convicted of risk of injury to a minor and fourth degree sexual assault.

Christopher Dionne was found guilty of molesting the 10-year-old friend of his daughter in a New London, Connecticut court. He was released on $100,000 bond until his sentencing appearance, set for Dec. 11.

Dionne appeared in Family Flip, which aired for one episode in 2015. “The individual referenced appeared in a pilot that premiered on our network in 2015,” a spokesperson from the network said in a statement. “The pilot was not picked up for series.” A&E also suspended production on a show featuring Dionne.

The incident that led to the conviction happened during a sleepover at the Dionne house. The victim, now 12-years-old, said Dionne touched her inappropriately under her clothing while at a birthday sleepover.

EARLIER: Christopher Dionne, who starred in a one-shot HGTV pilot called Family Flip, has been arrested and charged with the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl in November at his home in Old Lyme, CT.

Dionne, 36, has been charged by Connecticut State Police with fourth-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a child. The girl claimed he touched her inappropriately when she was sleeping at his house in November for a party and claimed he said something inappropriate during an incident a couple months earlier.

The unidentified victim’s mother contacted police on November 27. She claimed her daughter told her Dionne was touching her buttocks when she woke up in the middle of the night on his couch, according to state police, and then touched her chest and took a photo as he held her shirt up. He performed the alleged incidents twice, several hours apart. Two other children allegedly were sleeping in the same room when it happened.

The victim also told police that there was a similar incident in September, when Dionne asked the girl if she wanted to kiss his genitals, according to state police. It is unclear why the girl was at his house or what the relationship with the family is.

For his part, Dionne admitted an encounter with the girl but rebuffed her when she started rubbing his stomach, telling her, “That’s big girl stuff,” according to state police.

Reports indicate Dionne was in Santa Monica filming the TV show House Rescue with his twin brother until December 22.

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