Hopwood man charged with alleged sexual assault of 3-year-old girl
Over 50 counts relating to the alleged continuous sexual assault of a 3-year-old child beginning in 2010 were filed on Friday against a Hopwood man.
Pennsylvania State Police filed charges including rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault against Robert Allan Karwatske, 35.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, from 2010 to 2013, Karwatske allegedly sexually assaulted a girl when she was between the ages of 3 years and 6 years at his home along Hayden Lane in South Union Township.
While inside Karwatske’s residence, he would allegedly make the girl watch pornographic videos on his bedroom television, telling her to “learn this” and ask her to act out what was on the videos, then undress the girl on his bed and inappropriately touch the girl, have her perform sex acts on him and then he would do the same to her and then have intercourse with the girl, the affidavit said.
That course of conduct was previously reported to the state police in 2013, but the girl’s parents did not pursue due to the age of the child, according to the paperwork.
The Herald-Standard does not publish the names of minor victims of alleged sexual assault.
In the summer of 2017, the girl attended a public gathering and encountered Karwatske, which lead to her having nightmares and her speaking about the alleged assaults, and the case was reopened, the complaint said.
“Through the course of this investigation the victim is consistent with the statements that were made to State Police in 2013 and now with her advanced age she is able to provide more specific details of the events that occurred,” the criminal complaint states.
On Oct. 18, the girl was interviewed by police and described the numerous rapes and sexual events that allegedly occurred from Karwatske.
Such incidents included Karwatske exposing himself to her and asking her to inappropriately touch him, using sex toys on her, whipping her buttocks with a whip, setting up video recording devices in the bedroom and recording the assaults, taking photographs of her body, making her pose for the camera and tying her hands with bindings and a metal chain and placing a ball inside her mouth during one of the assaults.
The girl told police, “he was acting like my master and I was the cat,” adding that Karwatske even made her wear a cat suit.
Karwatske is in custody, but has not been arraigned as of early Friday afternoon.
Other charges filed against Karwatske include, but are not limited to, unlawful contact with a minor, photograph/film/depict on computer child sex act, endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, indecent assault to a person less than 13 years of age, indecent exposure and harassment.
A preliminary hearing will be scheduled at a later date.