CLEARFIELD – A former Clearfield man sentenced to serve up to 80 years in state prison for sexually assaulting teenage boys was back in court Tuesday for re-sentencing.
In September of 2014, John Joel Ralston, now 59, formerly of 10380 Krebs Hwy., Clearfield, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of involuntary sexual assault, corruption of minors and more and was given a total of 40 to 80 years in state prison by Judge Paul Cherry, according to previous accounts.
According to District Attorney Ryan Sayers, Ralston was sentenced to the mandatory minimum at that time. Since then, case law requiring this sentence was deemed unconstitutional, leading to the need to sentence Ralston again.
On Tuesday morning, he pleaded guilty to 10 counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and corruption of minors, and 11 counts of furnishing alcohol to minors. For this, he was given a total sentence of 25 to 50 years in state prison with 15 years consecutive probation.
In a separate case, he pleaded guilty to indecent assault person less than 13-years-old and was given a concurrent period of incarceration of nine months to two years in prison.
Previously, he was determined to be a sexually-violent predator and will have to register with authorities under Megan’s Law.
The charges in the first case stem from incidents, beginning in the summer of 2010 and ending in the summer of 2013.
According to the criminal complaint, Ralston picked up several juvenile boys in Huntingdon and took them to his camp along state Route 153 or to his residence.
The boys would spend weekends at the camp with him and he would take them to a nearby motorcycle dirt track to race their motorcycles.
While at the camp or his residence, he would supply the boys with alcoholic beverages. He also engaged in sexual activity with one of the boys by performing oral sex on him.
When Ralston was interviewed by police, he admitted to giving the boys liquor and engaging in sexual activity with one of them.
According to the affidavit of probable cause in the second case, while the victim was visiting at Ralston’s camp, Ralston put his hand down the victim’s pants on two occasions in February or March of 2013.
In addition, he had a similar case in Huntingdon County related to an incident in 2008. In October of 2014, he was sentenced to 5.5 years to 11 years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and two counts of corruption of minors, according to online court documents.