A convicted sex offender arrested in September for animal cruelty was arrested again Oct. 5 on multiple counts of child sexual assault, authorities said.

Eric Bousquet, 39, who has been residing recently at his parent’s home at 13 Bishop Lane, Epsom, was arraigned Oct. 6 in Hooksett District Court for felonious sexual assault, two counts of indecent exposure, two counts of sexual assault and two counts of simple assault.

Judge Robert LaPointe ordered Bousquet held on $12,500 cash bail – the amount a prosecutor requested.

According to police, there are four victims – three girls and one boy. They were between 11 and 17 when the assaults allegedly occurred at Bousquet’s former home at 102 Howard Ave., Hooksett, between May 1 and Aug. 18.

Three of the victims are siblings and their mother brought them to the Hooksett police station on Aug. 18 after her children spoke of the alleged abuse. The mother said she questioned her children, who had slept over at Bousquet’s home numerous times, after finding out he was convicted in 1993 of felonious sexual assault against a 13-year-old girl.

Once the allegations were reported, Hooksett police attempted to contact Bousquet, who was required as a sex offender to register his address to police. But when detectives arrived at his Howard Avenue home, they found a dead cat, a dog on the brink of death that was later euthanized and a house covered with maggots and animal ***.

Bousquet was apprehended several hours later and charged with failing to register as a sex offender. Police said he was staying with family in Epsom and North Conway and had failed to notify them.

About two weeks later, police formally filed two counts of animal cruelty against Bousquet.

Police said he abandoned the animals because he owed seven weeks of back rent.

According to court papers, veterinarian Leigh Williamson of the Manchester Animal Hospital told police, “that this was the worst case of animal cruelty she had ever worked on.”

Authorities say three of the children in the latest case became assault victims after their mother began a friendship with Bousquet and she often allowed them to sleep at his home. The fourth victim, the 11-year-old girl, was friends with one of the three children, authorities said.

Among the allegations stated in court papers, the 14-year-old said she was asleep on Bousquet’s couch when she awoke to find him attempting to pull off her pajama pants. The same girl said she witnessed Bousquet masturbate on his living room couch in her presence multiple times.

The boy, 16, also said Bousquet masturbated in front of him on another occasion, police said.

There were several allegations of Bousquet inappropriately touching the girls’ breasts in addition to grabbing and shoving, said court papers.

The mother of the three children told police she and her children were in the process of moving from Maine to New Hampshire when she allowed the children to spend time at Bousquet’s home.

“She stated that there weren’t many nights during the summer when at least one of her children wasn’t with Bousquet at his house,” a court affidavit said.

Bousquet has been convicted three times since 2001 for failing to register as a sex offender and two additional cases for the same charge are pending. Those cases are in addition to the animal cruelty case and the charges filed yesterday.

Public defender Elizabeth Mulholland expressed concern in court over Bousquet’s incarceration, saying he could lose the job he recently obtained at Bow Finishing in Concord, where he works as an early morning delivery driver. Bousquet is due back in court Oct. 19 for a probable cause hearing. His trial date was set for Dec. 16.