MS Coast jury convicts Biloxi man of sexually abusing 12-year-old for years

Biloxian Mike Gillich III sexually abused a 12-year-old from the time she was 7, a jury found at the end of a three-day trial.

The jury reached its verdict in three hours and 30 minutes. Gillich faces up to 15 years in prison.

In a news release, District Attorney Crosby Parker praised investigators’ work on the case and said the child “displayed extraordinary courage in testifying.”

“She came into court, faced her abuser, and detailed all of the sexual abuse that Michael Gillich III subjected her to,” Assistant District Attorney Billy Stage said.

Gillich, 58, is the son of the late Mike Gillich Jr., who owned several striptease lounges in Biloxi and was convicted in the conspiracy to murder Vincent and Margaret Sherry, a prominent Biloxi couple gunned down on orders of a Dixie Mafia kingpin who thought Vincent Sherry had stolen money from him. Mike Gillich Jr. long worked as a local contact for the Dixie Mafia and helped arrange the murders, although he did not participate directly.

Investigators began working on the sexual abuse case in November 2022, when a New Orleans hospital warned the Biloxi Police Department about the crime. Authorities found the 12-year-old was abused by Gillich, her mother’s boyfriend, when the child visited her mother during Halloween in 2022.

In a forensic interview, the child told authorities Gillich started sexually abusing her when she was 7 and that the abuse continued when she visited her mother.

The child and a family member testified to the jury, according to the news release. The jury also watched the forensic interview.

After a three-day trial, the jury found Gillich guilty of touching a child for lustful purposes. His sentencing is scheduled in September.

Sun Herald reporter Anita Lee contributed.

This story was originally published August 25, 2025 at 12:55 PM.