CLEARFIELD – A preliminary hearing for a 37-year-old Curwensville man, Jeremie Thomas Suhoney Sr., who has been accused of raping a 13-year-old girl, was continued one week by Magisterial District Judge James Hawkins during Centralized Court Wednesday at the Clearfield County Jail. Hawkins granted the continuance for Suhoney to obtain counsel.
Suhoney is facing charges of rape/forcible compulsion; rape/threat of forcible compulsion; statutory sexual assault; involuntary deviate sexual intercourse/forcible compulsion; involuntary deviate sexual intercourse/threat of forcible compulsion; involuntary deviate sexual intercourse/person less than 16 years; sexual assault; aggravated indecent assault without consent; aggravated indecent assault; indecent assault; endangering the welfare of children; and corruption of minors. Suhoney remains incarcerated at the CCJ in lieu of $100,000 bail.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, on Feb. 4, the victim’s father told police his wife was supposed to drop their daughter off at her friend’s grandmother’s residence on Feb. 1. He said she had her step-mother who was unaware of it take her to Suhoney’s residence. He said they learned she was at the wrong residence after her friend called and asked where she was at. At that point, he asked his wife where she’d dropped their daughter off, and she described the residence to him. He drove to Suhoney’s residence to get their daughter on the morning of Feb. 2.
The victim’s school counselor presented a written statement to police from one of her friends who had observed her getting on the school bus the morning of Feb. 4. The friend described the victim as “emotionally upset” and said she asked what was wrong; however, the victim told her she didn’t want to talk about it. The friend said when a second friend asked what was wrong the victim advised them both of the alleged rape.
According to the written statement by the friend, the victim told her she’d gone to Suhoney’s residence to babysit his boys who are 8 and 12 years old. She said Suhoney didn’t need a babysitter, and she stayed at the residence anyway. When she woke up Feb. 2, the victim told her friend she noticed blood where she’d been sleeping and believed she’d been raped.
When asked by police, the friend said the written statement was true and rated her friendship with the victim as a seven on a scale from 1-10. When asked, the friend said she could tell when the girl was lying. When asked if she believed the victim could be lying about being raped, the friend said she believed it was true based upon the victim’s emotional state.
At that point on Feb. 4, police contacted PASSAGES and advised they would be bringing a suspected rape victim to the DuBois Regional Medical Center. The victim was advised she would be going to the DRMC to speak with PASSAGES and a nurse. Before going to the DRMC, police, the victim and her parents went to gather the clothing that she had worn on the night of the alleged rape. The victim’s step-mother had already washed her underwear from that night. However, police gathered some night clothing – pajama bottoms and leggings – that the girl had worn.
At DRMC, the victim was interviewed by a nurse; the nurse provided a written statement to police afterward. During the interview, the victim explained she’d told her parents she was going to be at her friend’s grandmother’s residence on Feb. 1. Instead, she had her step-mother drop her off at Suhoney’s residence, where she arrived at approximately 7 p.m. to hang out with him and his two boys. At one point, the victim said she was standing in the kitchen when Suhoney allegedly walked by and smacked her buttocks, making her feel uncomfortable.
At approximately 9:30 p.m., she said they started watching a movie but later went into one of the boys’ bedrooms upstairs and got into a pillow fight. During the pillow fight, she said Suhoney tackled her on the bed, she asked him to “stop” and he did. At approximately 11 p.m., she said they were back downstairs listening to music before heading back upstairs for another pillow fight. This time she said Suhoney went into his own bedroom, where he started crying, and she went in to see what was wrong. The girl said they began talking about Suhoney’s oldest boy who was “taken away when in court.” She started crying with Suhoney and gave him a “small hug.” After a period of time unknown to her, the girl said she attempted numerous times to leave Suhoney’s bedroom, but he continually pulled her back onto the bed. When Suhoney went into the bathroom, she left his bedroom.
For the next several hours, the victim said she played XBOX with Suhoney’s boys. At approximately 2:30 a.m., she put the youngest boy to bed. She went into the other boy’s room to give him a drink and to pull the covers over him. After that she went to sleep on the couch when Suhoney offered her his bed. He told her he would sleep on the couch. She went into Suhoney’s bedroom to lie down. At approximately 3 a.m., the victim alleged Suhoney entered his bedroom, removed his clothing with exception to his boxer shorts and lied down next to her and proceeded to rape her.
On Feb. 4 at DRMC, police interviewed the victim about the alleged rape that occurred Feb. 1-2. When asked how she met Suhoney, she told police she’d had troubles with his oldest boy, a 15-year-old, who bullied her at school. The victim told police she found Suhoney on Facebook and added him as a friend to tell him that his boy was bullying her. She said they exchanged messages a couple times, and he later located her cell phone number in a message to another friend on Facebook. The victim told police that she and Suhoney started texting each other.
When asked, the victim said she’d only known Suhoney for about one month. When asked if she had initiated the Facebook contact, she said yes but only to notify Suhoney about the bullying. When asked about a text message on Feb. 1, she said it was to make plans for her to visit his residence for the first time. When asked if she had inquired about having sex with Suhoney, the victim said no. When asked if Suhoney had used any kind of force, she said he did when he made her perform oral sex on him. When asked if Suhoney had performed anal sex, she believed he attempted to. When asked if Suhoney had consumed any alcohol, she said he had not.
On Feb. 6, police interviewed Suhoney about the alleged rape. When asked, he said the victim was at his residence the night of Feb. 1 into the morning of Feb. 2. Suhoney told police he knew her through his oldest boy, and she’d come over to hang out. When asked, he said the victim had called him at 3 p.m. Feb. 1 and told him she was coming over, which she did at 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. and stayed until 11 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. Feb. 2. Suhoney told police that she played with the kids a lot, and they “carried on basically.” He said they hung out downstairs for a while and then in the kids’ bedroom upstairs.
When asked what occurred during the pillow fight, Suhoney said, they “were messing around pillow fighting.” He tackled the girl on the bed, and she didn’t say anything to him about it. After the pillow fight, he said they watched a movie, and he wasn’t sure when everyone went to bed. Suhoney said the kids slept in their beds, and he didn’t sleep at all. The victim slept in his bed.
When asked if he had physical contact with the victim in bed, he said, “Yeah, but it’s not like what she said.” He believed the victim was a lot older and at least 18 or 19 years old. He told police she lied about her age; when asked, he said he never asked if she was as old as he thought.
When asked, Suhoney said he had engaged in sexual intercourse and oral sex with the victim but didn’t engage in any other sex acts with her. He said this occurred around 3 a.m. Feb. 2, and it was the only time it occurred.
