CLEARFIELD – The trial got underway Tuesday for a DuBois man accused of sexually abusing a young girl over an extended period of time.
Sean D. Lechiara, 39, is charged by DuBois City police with numerous counts of rape of child, rape-forcible compulsion, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, IDSI-person less than 16 years, aggravated indecent assault of a child, aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, indecent assault and related offenses.
Deputy District Attorney Tami L. Fees is prosecuting the case on behalf of the commonwealth. Lechiara is represented by defense attorney Joseph D. Ryan of Reynoldsville.
According to trial testimony, on May 9, 2023, the girl requested police to investigate a case of alleged sexual assault.
She told jurors that while she couldn’t recall exact dates or time frames, she had been abused by Lechiara for approximately a year-and-a-half to two years at a DuBois home.
She said the assaults began with inappropriate contact when she was about 11 years old and with time progressed to inappropriate touching and intercourse when she was 12- to 13-years-old.
Lechiara also allegedly made her perform sex acts on him.
She described how this repeated abuse made her feel “disgusting.” She didn’t believe she could tell Lechiara no and didn’t know how to make him stop.
This led the girl to write a series of handwritten notes to her mother in which she disclosed the assaults, as well as her fear that she (her mother) wouldn’t believe her and may even blame her.
She left the notes with her make-up in her room, hoping her mother would find them. “[Those notes] were my cry for help,” the girl testified.
She said during the time frame of the abuse, she began drinking and using marijuana as a coping mechanism.
Cpl. Matthew Robertson, a detective with the DuBois City police, told jurors seven photos of the girl in “provocative” poses were found in Lechiara’s e-mail account.
Lechiara also took the witness stand in his own defense, denying that he ever inappropriately touched or sexually abused the girl in any way.
Court reconvenes with closing arguments at 9 a.m. Wednesday, after which jurors will receive their instructions and be sent into deliberations.
