CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man could spend up to 44 years in state prison for the indecent assault of two girls.
In October, Justin J. Centra, 41, was found guilty of attempted aggravated indecent assault of a child, two counts of indecent assault of a child, indecent assault-lack of consent, indecent exposure, three counts of corruption of minors, and terroristic threats in one case and guilty of 19 counts each of intimidation of a witness/victim and intimidation of witness in a child abuse cases in a second.
Because of the nature of the charges, Centra was subjected to an evaluation to determine if he was a sexually-violent predator.
After a short hearing with testimony from an expert Friday, Judge Paul E. Cherry ruled Centra meets the criteria to be classified a sexually-violent predator.
One of the victims spoke prior to his sentencing saying that he was supposed to be protecting her “from your kind” and called him a monster.
Cherry sentenced Centra to a total of 18 years plus nine months to 44 years in state prison with nine years consecutive probation.
He must complete sex offender counseling and register under Megan’s Law with law enforcement for the rest of his life.
According to the affidavit, an investigation began on Aug. 24, 2020 after a 12-year-old girl reported to her family that while staying at Centra’s residence, she woke to find Centra “trying to get into her pants and rubbing her legs.” He asked her if he showed her his “thing” would she show him hers.
She messaged a friend who arranged to get the girl home.
After this incident was reported, a second victim came forward saying that Centra had been touching her off and on since she was 10-years-old.
This including her waking up to find him “thrusting” on top of her, him grabbing her hand and putting it down his pants, him touching her private area while she was sleeping, and him dropping his pants and asking if she wanted “to grab it”.
While incarcerated in the county jail, Centra hand wrote 16 letters to the family and one of the victims asking them to do various things including writing to the district attorney and judge saying they think the girls are lying because it might “help get me out of here.”
According to that affidavit, Centra repeatedly asked to go over their stories.
“We need to wright about everything we can remember that morning so (we) are on the same page.”
For more details on the trial, click here.