Jun 13, 2011 3 min read

A Mount Lebanon man accused of taking a Connellsville teen from her home to Pittsburgh, where he kept her and had sex with her last year, will decide this afternoon if he will enter a no contest plea in the case.

Richard Michael Sabatasse, 27, initially indicated a willingness to accept a plea deal that would have avoided a trial. His plea offer is for 5 to 10 years in prison.

However, when it came time to finalize the plea, Sabatasse told Fayette County Judge Steve P. Leskinen he wasn’t sure what to do.

“I waited 13 months for this day, and now that it’s here, it’s like, wow,” Sabatasse told Leskinen after 20 minutes of talking over what to do with his attorney.

That prompted the jurist to give Sabatasse, accused of having sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl over three days, until 1:05 p.m. to make his decision.

State police Trooper Heather L. Clem charged Sabatasse with statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, corruption of minors, indecent assault, interference with the custody of children, kidnapping, false imprisonment and criminal use of a communication device after the teen reported she went with Sabatasse from May 14-16, 2010.

Sabatasse allegedly met the teen through a social-networking site, and the two communicated for several weeks.

And while the teen previously testified that she told Sabatasse her age, Sabatasse’s attorney, Sumner Parker, said the question in the case was when the girl told Sabatasse her age. In Pennsylvania, 16 is the age of consent.

Before Leskinen recessed court, Sabatasse told him that the teen told him she had identification that would allow her entrance to nightclubs in Pittsburgh.

However, Assistant District Attorney Linda Cordaro said that during the investigation of the case, prosecutors learned that while they did go to a bar, Sabatasse and the teen were there before management of the establishment started for identification.

The teen previously testified Sabatasse picked her up in Connellsville and took her to his Mount Lebanon apartment on May 14. When the teen told him the next day she wanted to go home, Clem alleged Sabatasse took the girl’s cell phone from her. Police also alleged he did not give her any food while she was with him.

Sabatasse allegedly gave the girl alcohol and had sex with her during the weekend, before he dropped her off at her home at 8:30 a.m. May 16.

Though the two did go out during the weekend, the teen testified she was too afraid to tell anyone she was being held against her will.

If Sabatasse accepts the plea, Cordaro said prosecutors will dismiss the counts of kidnapping, false imprisonment and criminal use of a communication device.

Sabatasse has been in prison since his arrest on May 20, 2010 on $250,000 bond.

In April, a Westmoreland County judge sentenced Sabatasse to eight to 23 months in prison and five years’ probation for inappropriately touching a teen in Youngwood. A judge there also determined Sabatasse is sexually violent predator.