Uniontown man pleads no contest to child rape charges
A Uniontown man charged with raping two children at residences in Masontown and Menallen Township over the course of several years, beginning in 2003, pleaded no contest in Fayette County Court on Monday.
According to the plea agreement, Elmer Plum, 71, will spend 10 to 20 years in prison for repeatedly raping and assaulting a boy, who is now 16 years old, and a girl, who is now 11.
Assistant District Attorney Meghann Mikluscak told President Judge John F. Wager Jr. that if the case had gone to trial, the prosecution would have called the boy to testify about the assaults and that a counselor to whom the girl disclosed the abuse also would have been called to testify.
The boy testified at a preliminary hearing in May that the abuse began when he was about 6 years old and continued regularly for years. He testified that Plum eventually raped him multiple times and that the assaults stopped when he was about 11 years old, at which time Plum began to rape the girl, who was 6 years old at the time.
Plum’s court-appointed attorney, Dianne Zerega, noted that as part of the plea agreement, Plum will not be asked to testify for or against one of his co-defendants, Dawn Marie Bryner, 36, of Hibbs.
Bryner and Joshua Glenn Wolfe, 30, of New Salem were each charged with sexually assaulting the children at the same time Plum was charged. Bryner was charged with statutory sexual assault and indecent assault, and Wolfe was charged with aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault and corruption of minors.
Bryner’s case remains on the trial list. Wolfe pleaded guilty in September and received a five-to-10 year sentence. That sentence is being served concurrently with a sentence of 6 to 12 years handed down in May, after he pleaded guilty in a separate child sexual assault case. Wolfe has been deemed a sexually violent predator and is required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law for the rest of his life.
Plum’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. March 5 before Wagner.