Melvin Dale Koroluk pleaded guilty December 13 to a revised charge of abducting a child under the age of 16.

The charge relates to an incident that occurred July 6, 2011 at the Yorkton Exhibition. Koroluk was arrested and charged with kidnapping, assault and unsafe storage of a firearm. At Court of Queen's Bench in Yorkton Thursday, the Crown, represented by Darren Grindle, withdrew the original charge and presented the new indictment.

Defence attorney Dave Rusnak reported to the Court that he and the Crown had been unable to arrive at a joint submission regarding sentencing.

After determining that Koroluk was making his plea voluntarily, Madam Justice C.L. Dawson accepted the guilty plea and ordered the pre-sentence report.

The Crown asked for and was granted a publication ban on the name of the victim or the names of anyone involved in the case that might lead to the identity of the now-12 year old girl.

Koroluk will appear again in court March 8, 2013 for his sentencing hearing.

For complete coverage of this breaking story, please see the December 19 print edition of Yorkton This Week.