CLEARFIELD – The re-trial of the case against a DuBois man, who had been accused of sexually abusing a young girl over an extended period of time, on Friday ended in a guilty verdict on all 134 charges.
Sean D. Lechiara, 40, was found guilty of rape of child (10 counts), rape-forcible compulsion (10 counts), involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child (three counts), IDSI-person less than 16 years (three counts), aggravated indecent assault of a child (20 counts), statutory sexual assault (10 counts), aggravated indecent assault-less than 13 years old (20 counts), aggravated indecent assault (20 counts), sexual assault (10 counts), indecent assault (10 counts) and corruption of minors, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor indecent assault (10 counts) and invasion of privacy (seven counts).
In April, the court declared a mistrial after the first trial because that jury was deadlocked on all 134 counts after nearly two-and-a-half hours of deliberations, and declined additional deliberation time when it was offered by Judge Paul E. Cherry.
The jury on Friday entered its deliberations at approximately 11:15 a.m. and arrived at its verdict approximately one hour and 45 minutes later. The jury was polled and each announced their agreement with the verdict.
Deputy District Attorney Tami L. Fees prosecuted the case on behalf of the commonwealth. Lechiara was represented by defense attorney Joseph D. Ryan of Reynoldsville.
“…This jury definitively believed the testimony of the victim,” said District Attorney Ryan Sayers after the verdict, while also commending the efforts of Fees and Cpl. Matthew Robertson, a detective with the DuBois City Police Department.
Lechiara faces 96 months to 20 years in prison as a minimum on one count of rape, and while it’s up to the judge to decide, this could very possibly be a “de facto” life sentence, Sayers said.
“And now, the victim can heal,” Fees added.
According to trial testimony, on May 9, 2023, the victim text-messaged Clearfield County 911 asking to have DuBois City police help her, which resulted in the opening of the child sexual abuse investigation.
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 made her perform sex acts on him.
She didn’t believe she could tell Lechiara no because he was an adult and she was just a child, the victim said.
Ultimately this led her 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 bin in her room, knowing her mother would find them when she came in to clean.
The victim said during the time frame of the abuse, Lechiara let her try his vape pen and alcohol, and also bought her gifts like nails and hair dye.
At the close of her testimony to Fees, she said she believed that the abuse occurred from summer 2021 until 2023 but indicated she couldn’t recall every incident and every detail, or exact times or seasons.
“I don’t want it in my head,” the victim testified. “I just want to bury it.”
Jo Ellen Bowman, an expert in child sexual assault behaviors and responses, also testified to the various dynamics that affect a child’s disclosure of abuse and responding behaviors while noting that every case is unique and dependent upon the child’s age and development, past trauma and so forth.
She said child sexual assault victims typically struggle with disclosure of abuse, as it’s a very emotional and traumatic experience for them, and it’s not uncommon for them to not recall exact dates or time frames, unless they can associate it with a holiday or another special occasion.
She said in cases of ongoing chronic abuse, children might recall the first/last occurrence of abuse and possibly a few other occurrences in between if they’re triggered by another memory because children actively try to not remember the abuse.
But, regardless of the case-specific dynamics, Bowman told jurors that it’s very uncommon for children to “make up” sexual assault allegations, also noting the difficulty they experience with public disclosure in a court setting.
