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Court dates in sex assault case rescheduled

After being sentenced to prison in Allegheny County for sexually assaulting two girls, a former gymnastics coach from Clinton Township will now face similar sexual assault charges in Butler County.

Keith R. Callen, 48, was facing two separate cases related to sexual assault of minors in both counties, but his lawyer, Stephen Colafella, focused on the Allegheny case first. Two court appearances scheduled in Butler this week were rescheduled at Colafella's request because he was anticipating a jury trial in Allegheny County, according to court documents. Now, with that case settled, Assistant District Attorney Robert Zanella, who is prosecuting the case, said the Butler case will move forward.

The next court appearance hasn't been scheduled yet.

On Monday, an Allegheny judge sentenced Callen to state prison for two to four years and five years of probation after he pleaded guilty to aggravated indecent assault, sexual assault by a sports official, unlawful contact and corruption of minors. He must also register as a sex offender for life.

In Callen's Butler case, he is facing charges of aggravated indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old, two counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old, two counts of endangering welfare of children and two counts of corruption of minors.

In the Butler case, police accuse Callen of molesting and taking sexual photographs of two girls — one of whom was aged 5 to 6 and the other aged 6 to 7 at the time — between 2000 and 2001. The girls' stepfather would bring them over to Callen's house on Sarver Road, according to police, where the abuse took place.

Both of Callen's cases originally were tried in Allegheny County during a jury trial, but the Superior Court stepped in to split the two cases.

Below is a brief timeline on the history of the cases.

- In May 2017, Keith R. Callen, 48, of Clinton Township was sentenced to 13 to 26 years in prison after being found guilty in Allegheny County of sexually abusing three girls, both in Butler and Allegheny counties.- On Oct. 31, the Superior Court tossed the sentence out because only one of the relevant crimes was said to take place in Allegheny County. When prosecutors handled both cases at once in Allegheny County, they denied Callen his constitutional right to a trial “by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,” the Superior Court ruled. The court ordered both cases remanded back to a lower court for new trials and vacated the previous findings.- On Wednesday, the Allegheny case was settled when he pleaded guilty to several charges.

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