News Photo by Temi Fadayomi Defendant Aaron Pokorzynski appears over Zoom for his motion hearing while his attorney Matthew Wojda argues on his behalf in district court on Monday. Pokorzynski, a former tennis instructor at the APlex is facing several criminal sexual misconduct.

ALPENA — Aaron Pokorzynski, a former tennis instructor at the APlex facing several criminal sexual misconduct, was arraigned in the Alpena County 88th District Court on Monday for a new criminal sexual misconduct charge after a new alleged victim came forward.

According to Assistant Alpena County Prosecutor Elizabeth Reed, prior to this recent arraignment, Pokorzynski was facing three charges of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree for allegedly having sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old child who was under his instruction as a tennis instructor back in 2012. Pokorzynski was arraigned on Dec. 11, 2023.

Before the new charges, Pokorzynski had posted his bond which was set for $50,000.

Pokorzynski’s new charge is criminal sexual conduct in the second degree and is the result of a separate incident with an individual who he also acted as an instructor for. Pokorzynski turned himself into the Sheriff’s Office on Monday morning and was housed in the county jail where he Zoomed into his afternoon arraignment.

During his arraignment in district court, Pokorzynski’s attorney Matthew Wojda argued that his client shouldn’t have his bond set very high, citing his client’s cooperation with the three-year-long investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct charges and with the court while he was out on bond.

“He has been out on bond since December,” said Wojda.”In that time, he has had no issues with his bond conditions. There have been no new allegations that have arisen during that period of release. And he has appeared for all of his hearings. There have been no issues.”

Reed argued that Pokorzynski was still a danger to the community due to his number of alleged victims and requested that his bond be set at $200,000, citing the bond amount for 71-year-old Thomas VanDuinen who was also facing serious sexual misconduct charges.

“I think the court would be remiss in not protecting public safety by setting an exceptionally high bar here,” said Reed. “I would note that Mr. Thomas VanDuinen had a similarly situated defendant. His bond is $250,000. So anything anything less than $250,000 here is inappropriate.”

Judge Alan Curtis ultimately set Pokorzynski’s bond to $20,000 stating that his compliance in the legal process up until now and the fact that he is facing a less serious charge in this case made it difficult to justify a higher bond. The information in this paragraph was incorrect in a story on Monday.

“I think that there should be a financial tie to ensure his compliance with appearing in court,” said Curtis. “So far, there has not been an issue with that compliance…request from the state to then increase by up to $200,000, based upon a less serious allegation that had been removed by seven years the court is just simply not going to do that.”