Stephen J. Manning

More than two decades after being accused of sexually assaulting a young girl in Cranberry Township, a Florida man will spend time in county jail after being sentenced in Butler County Court on Friday.

Stephen J. Manning, 70, of Sarasota, Florida, was sentenced to eight to 16 months in the Butler County Prison by Judge William Shaffer. He was also required to register as a sexual offender for his lifetime, ordered to pay court costs, submit a DNA sample and to undergo 60 months county probation following the expiration of his parole.

Manning previously pleaded guilty on July 19 to two felony counts of aggravated indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old.

He was initially charged with felony aggravated indecent assault of a child, indecent assault of a person less 13 years old and corruption of minors after Cranberry Township police filed the counts following a report from a now 31-year-old woman on July 5, 2016, who described a series of assaults that took place of a period of several months in 1996 and 1997, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Charges were later changed to two counts of felony aggravated indecent assault of a person less 13 years old and misdemeanor indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old and corruption of minors to reflect the laws that were in place at the time the incidents occurred between Oct. 1, 1996, and May 1997.

The remaining charges were dismissed as part of the plea.

“It is time to pay the piper for what he did,” Assistant District Attorney Benjamin Simon said. “He has taken many steps to address his issues, but that doesn't make right what he did. It is time for Mr. Manning to be punished for what he did to this young woman.”

To learn more about this case, read Sunday's Butler Eagle.