Police said there is DNA evidence on a T-shirt linking a 29-year-old Butler man to the rape of a young girl.

Jeremy J. Ambrosi-Clair, 29, of Butler, was arraigned Monday by District Judge William Fullerton, who placed him in Butler County Prison on $500,000 bond.

On Sept. 24, Butler city police charged Ambrosi-Clair with nine felonies, related to the rape and sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.

Those felonies include two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault, three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, one count of corruption of minors and one count of child pornography. He is also charged with four misdemeanors.

According to charging documents, police received a ChildLine report about a sexual assault in 2020 and the suspect's continued inappropriate behavior since then.

Police said they conducted a forensic interview with the girl, who claimed Ambrosi-Clair began sexual advances toward her around May 2020.

The girl, who would have been 13 years old when the incidents began, told officers the defendant would send her lewd messages and pictures of himself.

She told officers that one day he entered her bedroom, pinned her down and raped her; and when he was done he cleaned himself with an old T-shirt he picked up off her floor.

“I sent a sample of Ambrosi-Clair's DNA (to the state police crime lab in Greensburg) for comparison,” police said. “The lab advised the DNA profile from the (DNA) did match the DNA profile from Ambrosi-Clair.”

The girl allegedly told officers that Ambrosi-Clair continued to interact with her inappropriately beyond the incident, such as sending her lewd text messages.

A preliminary hearing for Ambrosi-Clair has been scheduled for Monday before Fullerton.