CLEARFIELD – A Houtzdale man pleaded guilty for his involvement with a 13-year-old girl during a special session of sentencing court Monday.
Dustin Michael Fetzer, 20, was sentenced to serve five months to one year in jail with two years concurrent probation for misdemeanor corruption of minors by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman.
Prior to sentencing, Ammerman questioned why the additional charges of statutory sexual assault and indecent assault were withdrawn from this case.
Deputy District Attorney Trudy Lumadue explained that the investigating state trooper had recommended the charges be withdrawn because of the evidence.
Ammerman asked for the trooper to be contacted about this plea. Later it was noted that the trooper told a court employee that he was in agreement with the charges as stated by Lumadue.
“He is fortunate this resolution was favorable to him, otherwise he would serve years in prison,” Ammerman noted.
His attorney, Ryan Dobo, stated that Fetzer was only 19-years-old when this happened and he has no prior record.
Fetzer stated that he was sorry for what he did.
In addition to the sentence, Fetzer must complete sex offender counseling and is to have no unsupervised contact with underage girls or the victim.
According to the affidavit, Fetzer and the victim were in contact through a social media app. In March 2022, they made arrangements to meet and Fetzer picked the victim up at her home. They traveled to his residence in Boggs Township where they had a very brief sexual encounter.
