News Photo by Julie Riddle Tony Parris, right, waits to be transported to jail after pleading guilty to sexual assault in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court on Monday.

ALPENA ― Former Wilson Township Fire Department captain Tony Parris, 33, pleaded guilty today to sexually assaulting a girl on multiple occasions between August 2018 and December 2020, when the girl was younger than 16.

Parris accepted a plea offer he previously rejected which, if the judge agrees, will send him to prison for 12 years in addition to lifetime electronic monitoring and sex offender registration.

Parris could have faced at least 25 years and up to life in prison for four counts of first degree sexual assault. As part of the plea agreement, the court dismissed four additional charges, including child abuse and accosting a minor for immoral purposes.

Parris was placed on unpaid administrative leave from the Wilson Township Fire Department on the day of his arrest in January and terminated the following month.

Judge Ed Black ruled Parris must enter custody until sentencing, for which a date has not been set.