CLEARFIELD – A 38-year-old Cherry Tree man accused of two counts of indecent assault had a hearing on Wednesday before Magisterial District Judge Jim Hawkins.
Philip Lee Schlereth Jr. is charged with two counts of corruption of minors, two counts of indecent assauilt and selling or furnishing alcohol to minors.
The first witness to take the stand was a 15-year-old Cambria County girl. She related that on Feb. 17, she went out with Schlereth and another man. She said that they picked up a friend of hers, another girl, and drove around Cherry Tree. She said that Schlereth bought beer for them to drink.
She said that at one point the other girl and man were kissing in the front seat of the extended cab truck they were in. While this was going on she said that Schlereth began touching her and tried to kiss her against her will.
The other girl, another 15-year-old Cambria County girl, took the stand and said that her friend and the two guys picked her up and they drove around Cherry Tree. She also said that Schlereth bought them beer. She related that at one point while they were parked in the woods she heard the other girl and Schlereth kissing and that the other gilr told Schlereth to stop.
She said that they got stuck in in the snow in the woods and had to walk to Schlereth’s residence before she and the other girl could get a ride.
Mark Rorabaugh, state trooper out of Punxsutawney, indicated that the incidents actually occurred in Burnside Township. He related that when he initially talked to Schlereth, the defendant denied contact with the one girl as well as buying alcohol. However in a written statement the trooper said that Schlereth admitted to kissing the one girl. He said that it was not in the truck but at his trailer. The trooper said that after Schlereth was arrested Schlereth said he thought the girls were 17.
All charges were bound over by Hawkins. Schlereth is in Clearfield County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.