CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man has pleaded guilty to inappropriately touching two girls when they spent the night at his home.
Jeffrey A. Zellner, 35, pleaded guilty to two counts each of indecent assault, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children and criminal attempt/indecent assault.
He was sentenced by Judge Paul E. Cherry to six months to three years in state prison. He was fined $8 plus costs and he must submit to DNA testing at a cost of $250 due to the felony charges. He must complete the Project Point of Light Program.
Although Zellner was evaluated, he was found not to be a sexually violent predator. He must still register his address with law enforcement under Megan’s Law.
Zellner told the court he was “sorry for my actions.”
Cherry questioned what Zellner, a 35-year-old man was doing with 8-year-old and a 10-year-old girls. Zellner did not respond.
His attorney, Chris Pentz argued for a county sentence, pointing out that his six month minimum sentence could turn into a three-year sentence in state prison. He said sending Zellner away for that length of time is not “making us safer.”
The charges stem from an incident at Zellner’s residence on Locust Street in September.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the mother of the first victim contacted police reporting the assault. She told police her daughter was staying at Zellner’s residence. She called home, crying and asking to be picked up. When the mother’s husband arrived at the residence, she told him Zellner had pulled down her pants while she was sleeping. The husband confronted Zellner who said, “I know it looks bad. I’m sorry.” The girl stated this had also happened at another time.
In an interview with police, the victim said she was sleeping on her side on the couch when she felt her pants being pulled down below her buttocks. She turned around and saw Zellner drop down onto the floor in front of the couch as if he was hiding.
He then he walked into the kitchen. She said she was afraid to go back to sleep and ran upstairs to wake another resident. This victim told police this was the second time this happened. The other time was during the summer. She said she did not tell her parents then because she was afraid.
It was later determined that the same thing had happened to the victim’s sister. When the second victim was questioned, she said Zellner pulled her pants down twice during two separate incidents while she was sleeping at his residence in the summer of 2015.
She described similar experiences of sleeping on the couch and Zellner pulling her pants down. When she woke, she said he “shrunk” down beside the couch and crawled to the TV. As the night went on, Zellner checked several times to see if she was asleep. The girl called her mother at 6 a.m. to pick her up. She said she didn’t tell her mother because she “felt weird” and thought her mother would not believe her.
The girl also explained that she felt uncomfortable with the way Zellner looked at both her and her sister. She said when they were playing a “monster” game with Zellner’s boys, he would focus on the girls.
He was supposed to pretend to be a monster and chase them all, but he would only chase her and her sister. When he caught them, he would tickle them around their waist and chest, she explained.