CLEARFIELD – A former Curwensville man is facing 16 felony charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a young girl.
Police say Mark Allen Juart, 37, whose address is now listed as Indiana, Pa., molested the girl who was eight or nine years old while he was living in Curwensville.
After the girl’s mother reported the abuse to authorities, the victim was interviewed at the Clearfield County Child Advocacy Center in September of 2022.
The girl explained that Juart kept “trying to touch me down there,” and attempted to get her to perform a sex act on him on different occasions, according to the affidavit of probable cause. He warned her not to tell her mother.
It was years later when she was filling out a form on social media that asked if she had sex, that she mentioned it to anyone else.
After this she told her cousin, who told her mother, and her aunt then told the girl’s mother who reported it.
In February, Juart was questioned about the allegations. He denied the crimes but couldn’t explain how the girl could describe his privates and the details of the encounters.
He agreed to submit to a polygraph test, which reportedly indicated he was lying about his contact with the victim.
Around this time, an Indiana woman reported that Juart had also molested her daughter in a similar manner. Charges of indecent assault and harassment in this case were filed in April and an arrest warrant was issued for his arrest.
This witness later told investigators that Juart admitted to her that he “did everything” the first victim claimed.
In August, troopers located Juart living out of a truck at a location in Armstrong County. He was using the name “Michael Herbert”, according to a press release from state police.
That assault happened at a White Township home between January of 2022 and March 19, 2023, the report stated.
On Aug. 4, he was taken into custody in Indiana County and placed in their jail.
Investigators say he confessed to touching both girls inappropriately. In the Clearfield County case, he admitted to touching the victim three or four times, according to the report.
He allegedly stated that he had also been touched as a child.
Juart waived his right to a preliminary hearing Friday before District Judge James Glass, sending the case on to the court of common pleas.
He is charged with three felony counts each of indecent assault person less than 13-years-old, aggravated indecent assault person less than 13, aggravated indecent assault person less than 16-years-old, and aggravated indecent assault, as well as felony corruption of minors and three misdemeanor counts of indecent assault person less than 16.
He is currently in state prison on probation revocations for two 2020 cases: assault and strangulation in the first case and felony endangering the welfare of a child in the other. Online court documents indicate this sentence will keep him in prison for up to seven years.