An inmate claimed he was bullied and then beaten by his new cell mate at the Butler County Prison, a county detective testified Monday during a preliminary hearing for 19-year-old Dorian D. Holmes.

The alleged victim offered his attacker money, hundreds of dollars, to stop the abuse.

It only got worse, according to testimony. The 120-pound prisoner told investigators that Holmes raped him in their cell in July.

That account was apparently bolstered by another inmate, who told investigators that he saw the purported sexual assault.

District Judge William Fullerton, following testimony, ordered Holmes of Pittsburgh to stand trial on rape and four other felony charges.

The defendant has been in the prison since June 5, following his arrest in a reported riot at a northern Butler County juvenile detention center.

Holmes, then a student-inmate at the Western PA Child Care in Allegheny Township, subsequently pleaded no contest to having a homemade weapon during the uprising. He is serving a 3- to 12-month sentence at the county prison.

Butler County Detective Tim Fennell, the only witness to testify at Monday’s hearing, said Holmes and his accuser in the alleged prison rape became cell mates in July.

The Butler Eagle does not identify victims of sexual crimes.

Court records showed the 20-year-old man was then jailed on a drunken driving charge.

Fennell interviewed the victim twice during his investigation.

The accuser said the first few days with his new cell mate were “OK” but on July 16 “things began to go sour,” according to Fennell.

Holmes allegedly started “bullying” the victim, refusing to let him off his bunk and ordering him to do push-ups.

The next day, the accuser said, the defendant’s behavior turned violent. Holmes punched him in the chest and placed him in headlocks.

Another inmate, who Fennell interviewed, could hear from his adjoining cell what sounded like the victim being bullied and choked by Holmes.

During the alleged assaults, according to testimony, the victim offered to turn over his meals and surrender any of his belongings “to appease” his antagonist.

He tried to pay off Holmes. An initial $35 proposal gradually became $500.

“But (the suspect) didn’t want any money,” Fennell said in recounting what the victim told him.

Instead, the much larger Holmes demanded his cell mate remove his clothes.

The inmate in the adjoining cell, “not wanting to hear what was going on,” Fennell said, buzzed for the guard to let him out so he could use the prison’s law library.

Fennell, in graphic detail, described how the victim said the defendant sexually assaulted him.

At some point, the inmate who had been let out, walked back toward his cell. On his way he passed the cell where Holmes and the victim were housed, and looked in.

“He couldn’t believe his eyes,” Fennell said, in recalling what that inmate told him.

The prisoner said he saw the defendant having sex with the victim. He eventually alerted a guard.

The victim was subsequently taken to Butler Memorial Hospital and given a rape kit test. Authorities, meanwhile gathered up any evidence from his cell, including clothing worn by the accuser and accused.

During her cross-examination, Holmes’ court-appointed attorney, Rebecca Black, questioned Fennell if the victim ever cried out for help during the alleged sexual assault.

“I was never told that happened, no,” he replied.

Fennell also acknowledged that he was unaware if the victim had reported to guards or prison officials any other prior problems with Holmes.

Black also questioned the detective about the accuser’s initial written statement given to correctional officers. In that statement, Fennell said, the victim asserted that his clothes were removed by Holmes.

But in his interview with Fennell, the accuser claimed he took off his clothes after no longer being able to withstand the defendant’s physical abuse.

In addition to rape, Holmes’ is charged with sexual assault and aggravated assault, and two counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault.

The victim, meanwhile, was released from the county prison July 29, authorities said, following disposition of his criminal case.