Confluence man pleads guilty to kidnapping, sex assault
A Confluence man could spend 25 to 50 years in jail for sexually assaulting two boys and kidnapping one of them, after pleading guilty to a host of charges in both cases in Fayette County Court on Friday.
“Essentially, that’s the rest of your life,” said President Judge John F. Wagner Jr. before accepting the guilty pleas from 45-year-old Brian T. Lynch.
Lynch asked whether he could face a stiffer penalty if he were to enter a general guilty plea and reject the plea offer from District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr. Lynch’s attorney, Brian Salisbury, advised him that if he were to plead generally, the sentence would be at the judge’s discretion, and could be longer. Lynch ultimately decided to enter into the plea agreement negotiated between his attorney and Heneks.
On May 5, Lynch was arrested and charged with two counts of kidnapping, rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts of unlawful restraint, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person.
Police said Lynch and a 17-year-old boy took a 6-year-old boy from his yard in Henry Clay Township at around 2 in the afternoon. After an AMBER Alert was issued, police in Westmoreland County found the child around 1:55 a.m. near Legion-Keener Field in Latrobe.
Lynch told the court that the 6-year-old lived in the same building as Lynch and his wife.
“A lot of times, kids from around the building would come over to the apartment to play video games,” Lynch told Wagner.
Lynch testified he was drinking on the day in question, and that he ran out of alcohol, and needed to go to the beer distributor. Lynch said while he was on his way, he received a phone call from the 17-year-old to come back and pick up him and the 6-year-old victim. Lynch testified that the three went to get ice cream, and then drove to Greensburg. Lynch eventually dropped off the teen, he testified, and took the child to the park in Latrobe, where he sexually assaulted him in the car.
The plea agreement in that case was 15-to-30 years in prison, plus registration as a sex offender under Megan’s Law, for a period of time to be determined by the state Sexual Offender Assessment Board.
In the course of investigating that incident, police also charged Lynch with another assault involving a 17-year-old boy.
The Herald-Standard does not publish the names of victim’s in sexual assault cases, however; that 17-year-old is not the same teen from the May 5 incident.
Lynch told Wagner that on three separate occasions between 2010 and 2011, he drove the victim to a specific location and asked him to perform oral sex. Lynch said that victim also lived nearby.
On June 27, police lodged charges of attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, attempted sexual assault, attempted indecent assault and corruption of minors in that case.
Lynch will serve a consecutive 10-to-20-year prison term in that case.
Sentencing will take place Jan. 27 at 9:30 a.m.