Rockwood man pleads guilty to rape of a child over 3 years

SOMERSET — A 41-year-old Rockwood man pleaded guilty to one count of rape of a child, first-degree felony, Tuesday before President Judge Scott Bittner.

Joseph Ray Stevanus had called Somerset County Crisis two days after a suggested child sexual abuse situation was referred to the state police on Aug. 1, 2023, by the Department of Human Services Childline .

He told the crisis center employee he was having suicidal thoughts because of an ongoing criminal investigation that involved his alleged molestation of a young girl in Milford Township. Stevanus told the employee that he had molested the girl several times and blamed it on medications he was taking in relationship to COVID. He told the employee that he did not want the girl to testify, according to the affidavit.

At a forensic interview at the Somerset County Child Advocacy Center, the young teen said that she did not remember the first time it happened. She said it possibly could have been when she was 9. Since the first time there have been multiple encounters, the last being in May 2023 when she was 12 and Stevanus was 40, Trooper Kasey Frank wrote in a probable-cause affidavit.

Other: Second unrelated death within days from crossbow shooting in western PA

Stevanus was arrested and charged with eight child sexual abuse felony offenses including rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, corruption of minors, aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault.

According to court documents, he was placed in the Somerset County Jail on a $100,000 monetary bond Sept. 1. Stevanus is still in custody awaiting sentencing, according to jail employees.

He is scheduled for sentencing in November.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Rockwood man pleads guilty to rape of a child over 3 years