The Bachelorette’s Lincoln Convicted of Indecent Assault and Battery – Today’s News: Our Take

One of the contestants on Becca Kufrin‘s season of The Bachelorette was convicted of a serious crime days before the show premiered in May.

TV Guide has confirmed that Lincoln Adim was convicted of indecent assault and battery in Boston, Mass. on May 21, after filming was completed. The news was first reported by Reality Steve and former Bachelor contestant Ashley Spivey.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office provided this statement to Spivey:

“Mr. Adim was convicted on May 21, 2018 of indecent assault and battery for groping and assaulting an adult female on a harbor cruise ship early on May 30, 2016. He was sentenced to one year in a house of correction, with that term suspended for a two-year probationary period. The judge ordered him to stay away from the victim and attend three Alcoholics Anonymous meetings per week during those two years. If he complies with the judge’s orders, he will not have to serve out his term, but if he fails to comply with those orders or re-offends, he could be ordered to serve out the year behind bars.”

Adim — who has not been eliminated through the show’s fourth episode — may have to register as a sex offender, according to a general statement on what happens if one is convicted of indecent assault and battery on the website of Boston-based defense attorney Stephen Neyman.

The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have had issues with failure to properly investigate contestants’ social media histories for problematic content, but this is a larger, potentially more complicated oversight than those.

Production company Warner Bros. and network ABC declined to comment in response an inquiry about how the pending criminal charge got missed during the casting process.

The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.