CLEARFIELD – A Coalport man accused of sexually assaulting two girls for years pleaded guilty Monday.
Justin Edward Anderson Jr., 36, pleaded guilty to 10 felony counts each of rape of a child, involuntary sexual intercourse, and corruption of minors, as well as misdemeanor indecent exposure.
President Judge Paul E. Cherry sentenced him to a total of 15 to 40 years in state prison with a consecutive period of re-entry probation. He must complete sex offender counseling.
Anderson was ordered not to have any contact with the victims and is to have no unsupervised contact with females under the age of 18.
Anderson was evaluated by an expert who testified that he meets the criteria of a sexually violent predator. Cherry ruled that Anderson be classified as a SVP, and as a result, he will have to register with authorities under Megan’s Law.
Anderson was originally facing over 1,500 charges.
Cherry admonished him saying he had violated a “sacred trust” with the girls and taken their innocence away.
“I hope each day you think about how you hurt these children.”
Prior to sentencing, statements from the victims were read into the record.
The first victim wrote that she wanted to die and now has nightmares every night.
The second victim wrote that she trusted Anderson who “ruined my childhood”. She had expected he would protect her but instead he “became the danger I needed to be protected from.”
She claimed he told her to kill herself and when she was going to therapy, he would question her about what she told the therapist and rape her in the car on the way home.
Anderson himself spoke, saying he was “deeply sorry” and admitting he let his mental health issues impact others. He added that he hoped they could forgive him.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the investigation began after a victim’s mother found a video of Anderson receiving oral sex from the girl.
When questioned by police, the girl said he had been sexually assaulting her since she was 8 years old. She related this would happen once a month when she was eight and then once a week after she was in high school. These alleged assaults occurred at Anderson’s residence.
The victim said he told her not to tell anyone. She also stated she thought the acts with Anderson were “normal”.
The second victim told investigators a couple years ago, Anderson would touch her private areas with her hands. Later he raped her multiple times and warned her not to tell anyone, according to the report.
