Member of sexual affenders board testifies in Fayette case
A member of the Pennsylvania sexual offender’s board testified Thursday that convicted child molester Vincent M. Pahula is a sexually violent predator. Pahula, 50, of Masontown was convicted in July of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, corruption of a minor and two counts of indecent assault for allegedly molesting a girl from the time she was 8 until she reached the age of 12.
During a hearing before Fayette County Judge Ralph C. Warman to determine if Pahula falls under the classification of sexually violent predator as defined by Megan’s Law, Dr. Allan D. Pass was called to testify by Assistant District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr, who handles child abuse prosecutions.
Pass said he conducted a behavior risk assessment on Pahula similar to the 28,000 others he has performed in his career. In assessing Pahula, Pass said he spoke to Pahula and reviewed applicable court documents, police reports, statements, a protection from abuse order, parole information.
Pass outlined Pahula’s criminal history, which included thefts, arson, robbery, conspiracy and time in the state correctional system. He pointed out that Pahula was charged with simple assault and later sentenced to serve 6 months to 1 year in county jail for allegedly pushing the same girl into a wall who later accused him of inappropriate sexual contact. Pass also noted that Children and Youth Services had twice investigated Pahula in the past for allegedly sexually abusing two stepchildren.
The alleged contact for the July conviction began in October 1993 and continued until May 1995 and after a one-year break, began again and continued until October 1998. Pass said, according to the arrest warrant, the inappropriate behavior began as touching outside of the clothes and slowly progressed to other sexual related behavior.
During Pass’ testimony, an obviously agitated Pahula repeatedly shook his head in disbelief and frequently looked to supporters in the courtroom. Pass said Pahula denied all wrongdoing and claimed that the girl, now 16, acted in revenge for his August 2001 simple assault of her. Pahula “refused a plea bargain to the abuse charges because he didn’t want to plead guilty to something he hadn’t done,” Pass testified.
As a part of the testimony, Pass outlined Pahula’s childhood. Pass said Pahula was the eldest of nine children and spoke of repeated physical, but not sexual, abuse as a child. At the age of 13, Pahula ran away from home and dropped out of school in sixth grade. However, Pahula got a GED in 1982 while serving time in prison.
Other information Pass outlined included the fact that Pahula is on his third marriage, stated his job history, mentioned a past history of alcohol abuse and noted a 1985 suicide attempt. Pass said he determined from the evaluation that Pahula has a personality disorder and engaged in predatory behavior, “which meets the criteria of a sexually violent predator.”
Under questioning from defense attorney Jeffrey Whiteko, Pass said he had not read a copy of the trial transcript and Pass acknowledged that the more information he has in a case, the better. Pass could not explain why Pahula allegedly quit abusing the girl in 1998, although they remained in contact with each other until the simple assault incident in 2001.
Pass said sexually violent predators will sometimes go into periods of remission, when they view pornography on the Internet, engage in masturbation or pursue other victims. However, Pass said that he had no evidence that Pahula did any of those three things after the conclusion of the sexual abuse of the girl.
Whiteko asked Warman for a delay to give him the opportunity to present a defense, saying that he only received the report of Passes findings Thursday morning.
Upon Whiteko’s request, Warman postponed the remainder of the “Megan’s Law hearing” and rescheduled it for 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 18 to give the defense time to prepare any evidence it may have to present. Following that hearing, Pahula will be sentenced.