CLEARFIELD – A guilty plea for a Philipsburg man accused of sexually assaulting two girls was withdrawn during colloquy court on Monday.
Willie Ray Hockenberry, 67, had signed a plea agreement and was scheduled for sentencing in September and then October of last year, but issues of competency were discussed and he was sent to state prison for a mental health evaluation.
He was charged in May 2021 with rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, two counts of aggravated indecent assault, six counts of indecent assault person less than 13-years-old, six counts of endangering the welfare of a child, six counts of indecent exposure, all felonies as well as two misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure in connection with incidents between 2013 and 2019.
On May 30, Hockenberry’s case was back in court with Deputy District Attorney Trudy Lumadue saying he was determined to be incompetent.
Again, there were questions regarding this and the case was continued until July, according to a previous article.
On Monday, President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman stated Hockenberry was evaluated twice and now he is considered to be competent.
Hockenberry appeared in court, having returned from the state hospital.
His attorney, Ryan Dobo, stated that Hockenberry wanted to withdraw his guilty plea. Because he was not colloquied previously, he was allowed to do this.
His case goes back on the trial list and he will be scheduled for the next criminal jury selection on Aug. 10.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, in April 2021, the victim’s mother told police her daughter recently said Hockenberry had sexually abused her when she was younger.
The girl reportedly said he first touched her inappropriately when she was 7-years-old, regularly touched her privates with his privates when she was 8-years-old with the abuse evolving into intercourse with him until she had her first period.
A second victim reported that he had also touched her inappropriately on several occasions.
The criminal complaint notes that in 1981 Hockenberry was charged with statutory sexual assault for allegedly having sex with a 12-year-old girl.
He is being held in the county jail on $100,000 bail.
