Prison term expected after guilty plea in sex assault case
A state prison sentence of at least 3 years is expected for an Armstrong County man who pleaded guilty in Butler County Court on Tuesday to sexually assaulting two young girls.
Jesse L. Roberts, 30, of Leechburg, pleaded guilty to felony endangering the welfare of children and two counts of misdemeanor indecent assault before Judge William Shaffer.
The plea agreement calls for a total sentence of 3 to 7 years in state prison, as well as fines.
A sexually violent predator evaluation was ordered to be conducted by the state Sexual Offender Assessment Board, and sentencing will be scheduled upon completion of that evaluation.
He continues to be held in Butler County Prison on $500,000 bail pending sentencing.
Roberts was charged by Buffalo Township police with felony aggravated indecent assault of a child, aggravated indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old, endangering the welfare of children, two misdemeanor counts each of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old, indecent assault of a person less than 16 yeas old and indecent assault, as well as one count each of misdemeanor indecent exposure and endangering the welfare of children after incidents between Jan. 1, 2016, and Aug. 31, 2017.
The remaining charges will be dismissed as part of the plea.
The investigation was initiated after a ChildLine report, filed by a social worker with Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, who reported that a 7-year-old child and 9-year-old child were brought to the hospital on Aug. 3. The 7-year-old child reported that while asleep on a couch at her Sarver home, she was awoken by the baby sitter, later identified as Roberts, inappropriately touching her, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
During a forensic interview, the girl also reported that Roberts exposed himself before sexually assaulting her, court documents state.
She told authorities that incidents began when she was 6-years-old, and her sister later told her that Roberts had assaulted her as well.
The girl also reported that Roberts threatened her, saying “he said if you tell after (and) if I get in trouble, you're going to get hurt,” according to the criminal complaint.
A forensic interview with the 9-year-old also revealed the same type of incidents happening to her, police said. Police said the girls reported the incidents to their mother, who then took them to the hospital to be evaluated.
