Connellsville man charged in sex assault case
A 26-year-old Connellsville man is behind bars after police allege he sexually assaulted a teenager at his apartment Thursday.
Connellsville police Capt. Steven Shaffer said Chad L. Echard was charged early Friday with unlawful restraint, statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors, terroristic threats, simple assault and harassment.
Shaffer said the charges were filed after police were summoned to Echard’s home by a third-party caller who reported that her friend, the alleged victim, had been held against her will at Echard’s residence for more than seven hours.
Shaffer said during that time, the alleged victim told police that Echard pushed her, struck her, smashed her head against the floor of the residence and refused to let her leave.
Additionally, multiple neighbors told police that they heard Echard assaulting the teen and said that he also was threatening to kill her if she called police.
Through the course of their investigation, Shaffer said police learned that Echard had been involved in a three-year sexual relationship with the alleged victim, since she was 14 years old.
Echard was placed in Fayette County Prison on $15,000 straight cash bond.
He will face a preliminary hearing at a later date before Magisterial District Judge Ronald Haggerty Jr.