It has now emerged that comic book designer and YouTuber Chris Chan had received a suspended jail sentence for macing a GameStop worker years before she was arrested for her shock “incest.”
Chan, 39, was booked into Henrico County Regional Jail West in Virginia on Sunday, August 1, after admitting to sexually assaulting her 79-year-old mother who has dementia. The Sun subsequently obtained a filing from Albemarle General District Court that showed she was charged with Class 1 Misdemeanour Assault in December 2014. According to the newspaper, this was a lesser charge after the blogger was initially booked for a Class 6 Felony for “dangerous gas unlawful release.”
Chan, whose full name is Christine Weston Chandler, was previously known as Christian Weston Chandler. The complaint against her was made by James R Herring, who alleged that she maced an employee at GameStop who had asked her to leave. Following the altercation, she was barred from the store for life. According to court records, the controversial internet star was given a 180-day suspended jail sentence and ordered to pay $514 in court costs at the time.
This wasn’t Chan’s only past run-in with the law. In October 2011, Chandler and her mother, Barbara, were arrested after the latter hit a local game store manager with her car. The duo was asked to pay a fine and undergo community service and a year of probation.
Chan was grabbed headlines of late after she was booked Sunday evening in relation to incest. “Christine Weston Chandler is currently being held in our Jail West facility on one count of incest and awaiting arraignment in Greene County, Virginia,” Henrico County Sheriff Alisa Gregory told Newsweek, adding that “the criminal charges are not for Henrico County, but Greene County.” While information regarding a future court appearance is yet to be released, Chan’s arrest came after an earlier welfare check on Friday following rumors of an assault.
Under state law in Virginia, incest is a Class 1 Misdemeanour and can carry a fine of up to $2,500 and one year in jail. That said, the alleged assault can also be identified as a Class 5 Felony, which could result in up to 10 years in prison.
Chan shot to prominence as the creator of the Sonichu and Rosechu online comic book series. The 39-year-old YouTuber originally identified as a male. However, over the years, she went onto discover her identity as a transgender woman. In September 2011, Chan claimed to be a “tomgirl” while going through gender dysmorphia. In 2016, she went on to change her name to Christine and came out as transgender.