CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl waived his right to a preliminary hearing during Centralized Court on Wednesday at the Clearfield County Jail.
Franklin William Wilson, 41, of Clearfield has been charged with aggravated indecent assault of a child; aggravated indecent assault/complainant less than 13 years; aggravated indecent assault/complainant less than 16 years; and indecent assault/person less than 13 years.
These charges against Wilson were previously dismissed by Magisterial District Judge James Hawkins following a preliminary hearing in September. However, Lawrence Township police re-filed the charges, Hawkins said.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, during a forensic interview at the Children’s Advocacy Center, a 10-year-old girl allegedly detailed child sexual abuse incidents that occurred between Dec. 30, 2014 and Feb. 13.
The victim said that on three, different mornings, she went downstairs and sat next to Wilson in the living area of his residence. She alleged that Wilson would watch pornography on his cellular phone and made her watch it, as well.
One of the times while Wilson was watching pornography, the victim alleged that he inappropriately touched her private area. She said that she felt afraid but was too afraid to yell for help.
The victim also alleged that Wilson inappropriately touched himself in front of her. When she asked him to stop, he did not; when he did she said he told her not to tell anyone.
During a preliminary hearing in September, Officer Zachary Cowan testified, saying he had received a report about an alleged sexual assault involving a child from Clearfield County Children & Youth Services.
He also observed a forensic interview with the 10-year-old victim, and she alleged Wilson inappropriately touched her and forced her to watch pornographic videos on his cellular phone.
According to his testimony, a search warrant was requested and obtained for Wilson’s cellular phone. It was executed by township police. Then, a search warrant was requested and obtained for any and all data contained within the phone.
Cowan said that all warrants and Wilson’s cellular phone were turned over to Detective John W. Aston of the State College Police Department. Aston was requested to conduct a cellular phone analysis and data extraction.
Upon his review of the data extraction report, he allegedly found Wilson’s cellular phone had accessed pornographic Web sites. He also provided the name of one specific site that was reported to him by the alleged 10-year-old victim.
In September, Wilson had 1,211 counts of child sexual abuse charges returned to court. During the preliminary hearing, five girls testified that Wilson had allegedly sexually abused them. One victim alleged that Wilson started to sexually abuse her when she was 6 years old, and it didn’t stop until she was 16 years old.