Azal 'Mary' Saleh charged with molesting 14-year-old Michigan girl

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Female war refugee, 22, who described her life in Iraq as 'hell' is charged with molesting 14-year-old Michigan girl
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Azal 'Mary' Saleh, 22, charged with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct
Victim claimed Saleh rubbed her chest and pubic area after assuring her it was normal for friends to touch each other
Saleh told police she and the girl touched each other's breasts 'in a joking way'
Saleh, who has a 2-year-old daughter, came to the US as a refugee in 2010
Saleh told a local paper in April that 'a lot of bad things happened' to her in Iraq and that she 'came from hell, mistreated and abused'

Published: 13:39 EST, 16 July 2015 | Updated: 16:42 EST, 16 July 2015

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Refugee arrested: Azal Saleh, 22, a refugee from Iraq, has been charged with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a 14-year-old girl

Azal Saleh described her life in war-ravaged Iraq as 'hell' before fleeing to the US - and now the 22-year-old refugee is being accused of molesting a Michigan girl.

Saleh faces a November 9 trial on two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a 14-year-old girl.

The girl told police she was touched beneath her clothing in February at a home in Grandville, southwest of Grand Rapids.

A refugee services organization placed Saleh at the home. She has been in the US since 2010.

Saleh told the newspaper Grand Rapids Press for a feature story published in April that 'a lot of bad things happened' to her in Iraq and that she 'came from hell, mistreated and abused.'

According to a police report, the alleged victim told officers that on the night of February 16, she was sleeping in the basement of a home in Grandville owned by family friends where Saleh was also staying.

Saleh began by rubbing the girl’s arm and chest, the 14-year-old told investigators, but the teen asked her stop.

The 22-year-old woman, who also goes by 'Mary,' assured the teen that it was a normal thing for friends to touch one another like that and proceeded to fondle the girl's pubic area beneath her clothes, according to the report.

The 14-year-old said she eventually got the older woman to stop touching her. She stated that the encounter did not involve sexual penetration.

When interviewed by police, Saleh said she and the teenager would 'joke and play with each other by touching the other's breasts in a joking way.'

The Iraqi national was offered a plea deal last week, reported Grand Rapids Press, which she refused to take insisting she was innocent of the charges.

Feel-good story: In April, Saleh (right) was interviewed for a feature story published in the Grand Rapids Press that recounted how the woman was reunited with her childhood friend, 21-year-old Muna Ahmed (left)

Azal Saleh was reunited with her childhood friend in April

Had Saleh agreed to plead guilty to one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, she would have been sentenced to nine months in jail.

When she goes on trial in the fall, the 22-year-old mother-of-one could face up to two years if convicted. A guilty verdict could also potentially get her deported from the US.

Saleh has a 2-year-old daughter and lives in Grand Rapids. Since arriving in the US, Saleh has been working towards a high school diploma while learning English at a charter school in Grand Rapids.

The April news article about Saleh recounted how the Iraqi refugee reunited with her childhood friend and neighbor at Covenant House Academy, where both women have been taking English as a Second Language courses.