Joseph A. Betz II

A Cherry Township man who once pleaded guilty to harboring a runaway teenage boy from authorities was accused of sexually assaulting the boy earlier in his life, according to charges filed Wednesday, Feb. 14.

Documents showed the then-teenager who is now 24 disclosed Joseph A. Betz II, 71, sexually abused him over the course of several years. The abuse allegedly began in 2011, when Betz was 58.

On Wednesday, state police charged Betz with felonies statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor and photographing a sex act with a minor, and misdemeanors indecent exposure and simple assault.

It was not the first time Betz has been charged in relation to the boy. He was charged with felony interference with the custody of a child after an incident between June 10 and Dec. 3, 2016. The boy ran away from his home in Washington County and then from a Mercer County school and was found on both occasions.

Betz pleaded guilty to that charge in November 2018.

According to new charging documents, state police said the 24-year-old man spoke with them about the assaults in August 2023.

The man disclosed that beginning when he was 11 years old, Betz would perform various sexual acts on him at a home in Cherry Township, police said.

The assaults would occur on a weekly basis in several locations throughout the residence, and the man recalled feeling he had “no choice” but to participate, police said.

Documents showed the man disclosed Betz would do “weird things” to him while he slept at the residence.

In one instance, when he was 11 years old, the sexual acts resulted in injuries, the man told police.

In another instance, Betz allegedly took an inappropriate photograph of the juvenile and uploaded it to his computer.

Previous reports indicate the first police involvement with this case occurred after Betz was accused of harboring the then-16-year-old boy, who reportedly ran away from his Washington County home.

Troopers found the teenager June 7, 2016, hiding in a bedroom closet at Betz's home, police said.

After that, the boy was turned over to Mercer County Children and Youth Services and placed at the Keystone Charter School, but ran away from that facility shortly after, police said.

Police said it was discovered that at the end of November, Betz traveled with one or two people to Florida, taking the boy with him. While there, witnesses said Betz got into an argument with one of the other men and returned home without the boy.

Police arrested Betz in Lawrence County in December and authorities found the boy with the other men at a hotel in Osceola County, Fla.

In these cases, Betz pleaded guilty in November 2017 to misdemeanor interference with the custody of a committed person and no contest to misdemeanor receiving stolen property.

He was sentenced to time served to 18 months in Butler County Prison, and was immediately paroled.