David S. Reed sexually assaulted a teenage girl last September in Tamaqua, and will pay for it by going to state prison for at least 56 months, a Schuylkill County judge ruled on Wednesday.
Reed, 24, of Tamaqua, must serve 56 to 112 months in a state correctional institution, submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities, have no contact with his victim and pay costs and $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account, Judge John E. Domalakes ordered.
Reed pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors, indecent exposure and indecent assault, with prosecutors dropping a charge of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse under the terms of the plea agreement with the defendant.
Domalakes imposed three consecutive prison terms on Reed, 24 to 48 months for the statutory sexual assault, 16 to 32 months for the corruption of minors and 16 to 32 months for the indecent exposure.
Tamaqua police charged Reed with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl on Sept. 5 in a home on Center Street in the borough.
Police said the girl and her mother reported the assault on Sept. 10 and three days later came to the station and gave a statement naming Reed as the attacker.
The girl said she and a friend went to a home on Centre Street and that she was left alone in a living room with Reed when her friend went to a second-floor room, according to police. Reed exposed himself to the girl and eventually had sexual contact with her, police said.
Domalakes said he imposed the sentence on Reed immediately because he did not need a report from the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, which is customary in such cases, since Reed already is subject to Megan's Law registration requirements.
"He is a lifetime registrant," Assistant District Attorney Jennifer N. Lehman said.
After the hearing, Lehman said Reed is subject to Megan's Law due to a Delaware conviction for third-degree rape.
The Megan's Law sanctions to which Reed is subject include requirements that he report his address, employment and educational statuses, and any change in them, to state police for the rest of his life after he leaves prison. Any failure to comply with those sanctions is a crime in itself and could result in further prosecution.
Megan's Law was enacted in Pennsylvania, numerous other states and at the federal level following the 1994 murder of Megan Nicole Kanka, 7, of Hamilton Township, Mercer County, N.J. Jesse Timmendequas, Kanka's killer, was a convicted sex offender and one of the girl's neighbors.
He is serving a life sentence following then-New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine's commutation of his death sentence after that state abolished its death penalty.
