A 32-year-old woman is accused of lying when she claimed the father of her 12-year-old daughter sexually abused the girl at his Penn Township home last month.

The woman, whose last known address was in the Pittsburgh area, now faces a March 18 preliminary hearing on a half-dozen charges — all misdemeanors — in connection with the Penn Township police investigation. The Eagle is not identifying the defendant in this case to protect the identity of her daughter given the nature of the accusations.

Sgt. Cheryl Cranmer charged the mother Feb. 26 following her investigation that began Feb. 18 when the woman alleged her daughter's biological father admitted during a purported phone call the night before that he abused the girl.

The defendant told authorities her daughter claimed during the same call she was being abused by her father.

According to Cranmer, the 35-year-old father was previously granted full custody of the girl by Allegheny County court and she lives with him.

Both the girl and father later told Cranmer neither of them spoke to the defendant Feb. 17, and the officer said a subsequent review of phone records corroborated their accounts.

Cranmer, in speaking to the woman Feb. 18, advised the defendant to contact ChildLine and make a report.

ChildLine is an anonymous hot line operated by the state's Department of Human Services that receives tips of potential child abuse, so police or social workers can investigate them.

A short time later, Cranmer learned a ChildLine report had been received regarding the girl. That report, police said, was from an employee at the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, where the defendant had been staying at the time.

The ChildLine referral reported the mother was making the same allegations she made to Cranmer.

The woman also applied for an emergency protection from abuse order Feb. 20 in Pittsburgh Municipal Court, again making the same sexual abuse allegations.

Because of the order, which was in effect for 24 hours, the father was evicted from his home. His daughter remained there with the man's fiancée, Cranmer said.

On Feb. 21, the woman sought a temporary PFA in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, again making the same sexual abuse allegations. But that order was denied, which allowed the father to return home.

Cranmer in her criminal complaint noted the defendant's allegations “were investigated and found to be false as proved by interviews” with the girl and her father and by phone records.

Cranmer said the girl told police in her interview that she had not spoken with her mother since early January, when the defendant was jailed in Sumner County, Tenn., on an unrelated matter.

“(The girl) also confirmed that she never told her mother that she was being sexually assaulted by her father or anyone else,” Cranmer's affidavit said.

The girl's father, in his police interview, “stated he did not, or has he ever abused (the girl),” the affidavit said.

Cranmer said she has attempted to call the mother since speaking to her Feb. 18, but has gotten no response.

The woman is charged with false reports of child abuse, false report to incriminate another person, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, false reports of an offense that did not occur, furnishing authorities with information without knowledge and unsworn falsification to authorities.

Her preliminary hearing will be held at the office of District Judge Sue Haggerty in Saxonburg. Online court records did not indicate if she has an attorney, and she could not be reached for comment.