Police: Man jailed in stabbing admits to sex with girl
A man arrested and jailed on charges he stabbed another man last week in Butler is now accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl in 2019.
David N. Demharter, 22, in the latest charges, allegedly admitted he had sex with the girl after he met her at a party at a Slippery Rock Township apartment complex in March or April of last year, state police said.
District Judge William O'Donnell on April 29 arraigned Demharter on felony charges of statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors. O'Donnell imposed a $100,000 bond in the case.
Demharter has been in the Butler County Prison since April 28 after city police say he stabbed a 22-year-old Slippery Rock man during a fight earlier that morning at South Chestnut and Shore streets.
He is charged with felony and misdemeanor simple assault in that case for which bond was set at $25,000.
State police said their investigation began April 1 after they received a ChildLine report that identified Demharter as having had sex with the then 15-year-old victim.
The girl, during an interview April 8, recounted that she and Demharter engaged in sexual intercourse in March or April of 2019, police said.
Investigators subsequently interviewed Demharter after he called police April 9 “saying he wanted to speak to (them) about this incident,” according to charging documents.
He claimed he didn't know the girl's age when they had sex somewhere in the area surrounding Slippery Rock University, police said.
But during the investigation police spoke to a witness who contradicted Demharter's account, saying he and the girl met at the end of 2018, and he knew her age at that time.
Under state law, a person can be charged with statutory sexual assault if the accuser is younger than 16 and the defendant is four or more years older than the accuser.
Demharter's preliminary hearing is set for Wednesday.
Butler police charged the defendant stemming from an investigation that began about 12:20 a.m. April 28 when they were called to Butler Memorial Hospital where a man showed up with two stab wounds, one of which was serious, to his abdomen.
The victim was later transported to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment of what police described as “non life-threatening” injuries.
Aided by video surveillance footage near the crime scene, police said, officers identified Demharter as the assailant. They said he struck the victim twice with a knife.
His preliminary hearing in that case is May 11.
