Uniontown man convicted of sexually assaulting elderly woman
A Uniontown man was convicted in Fayette County Court on Tuesday of sexually assaulting an elderly woman in her apartment late last year.
Ronald Hunter, 69, was found guilty of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts each of aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault.
The 80-year-old victim was not present for the trial. According to testimony from her son, she is in a rehabilitative facility in South Carolina following an undisclosed medical event that occurred at around the same time as the assault.
The Herald-Standard does not identify victims of alleged sex crimes.
Because the victim was not present for the trial, assistant public defender Mary Campbell-Spegar raised several hearsay objections to testimony provided by prosecution witnesses who told jurors what the victim said to them.
Assistant District Attorney Meghann Mikluscak called Ashley Stalnaker, a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner at Uniontown Hospital, who testified she examined the victim when she came to the emergency room on the evening of Oct. 10.
The victim reported to Stalnaker that Hunter entered her apartment that night swearing at her. Stalnaker testified the woman said Hunter brought her a marijuana cigarette and told her it would make her feel good.
The woman refused, Stalnaker said, and went to her bedroom, where Hunter reportedly followed her. Stalnaker testified the woman said Hunter pushed her on the bed, and while she fought, he pulled down her pajama bottom and sexually assaulted her.
The woman called 911, and when police arrived, she was found on her knees, naked from the waist down.
Uniontown Police officer Jeremy Schult testified Hunter was in the apartment when he and officer Michael Bitner, who filed the charges, arrived.
Schult testified Hunter told him he came over because he believed there was a possibility he and the victim would have sex, but that nothing happened.
“He said she fell on the bedroom floor and he fell on top of her,” Schult testified.