Bachelorette Contestant Lincoln Adim Convicted of Indecent Assault

Reality star, who competed for Becca Kufrin's heart this season, was ordered to register as a sex offender

By Corinne Heller Jun 13, 2018 8:53 PMTags
Lincoln Adim, The BacheloretteABC/Craig Sjodin

Lincoln Adim, a contestant on the current 14th season of ABC's The Bachelorette, was convicted of indecent assault and battery last month and has to register as a sex offender.

In May, a week before the show premiered, the now 26-year-old was found guilty of groping and assaulting a woman on a harbor cruise ship in 2016, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office in Massachusetts said in a statement to E! News on Wednesday.

The statement said Adim was sentenced to one year in a house of correction, with that term suspended for a two-year probationary period, and was ordered to stay away from the victim and attend three Alcoholics Anonymous meetings per week.

"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," the statement said, adding, "By law, he is expected to register as a sex offender."

Adim, a Boston-based account sales executive and one of several contestants competing for the love of Bachelorette star Becca Kufrin, and ABC have not commented.

The news was first reported by Reality Steve, who said that he was told on Monday that Adim was in court. He said that The Bachelor season 15 contestant Ashley Spivey helped him by obtaining the district attorney's office's statement about him. Spivey posted on Twitter a screenshot of an email containing it.

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Season 14 of The Bachelorette began filming in March and wrapped in mid-May. As of Wednesday, Adim is one of 17 contestants still in the running.

The show faced controversy soon after the season premiere over alleged Instagram activity by contestant Garrett Yrigoyen. Screenshots Spivey shared online show that his Instagram account liked several offensive posts, including posts that mock Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg and the trans community.

Warner Bros. released the following statement on the matter:

"No one on The Bachelorette production had any knowledge about the incident or charges when Lincoln Adim was cast, and he himself denied ever having engaged in or having been charged with any sexual misconduct. We employ a well-respected and highly experienced third party who has done thousands of background checks consistent with industry standards to do a nationwide background check in this case.  The report we received did not reference any incident or charge relating to the recent conviction - or any other charges relating to sexual misconduct. We are currently investigating why the report did not contain this information, which we will share when we have it."

—Reporting by Holly Passalaqua