Fayette County man jailed without bond on accusations of raping, photographing sex acts with 4 girls
A Fayette County man was ordered held in the county jail without bond after he was arrested by state troopers on 40 felony counts of sexually abusing four young girls who he befriended over the last six years.
David A. Straitiff, 47, of North Union, was arrested Saturday by troopers in Uniontown who had received a tip from the agency’s computer crimes division that pictures of some of the young girls were discovered on Straitiff’s home computer during an investigation.
According to court documents, troopers began interviewing some of the victims Friday who said that Straitiff began raping and abusing some of them in 2015. The girls are now 14-, 12-, 10- and 6-years old.
Three of the girls told troopers said that the abuse would occur when the girls and their mother occasionally would stay at various residences Straitiff had in the Uniontown area. A fourth girl was identified after her mother learned that Straitiff was being investigated by state police, according to court documents.
The oldest girl told troopers that after being assaulted by Straitiff, he would often “buy them extra stuff when they went to the store.”
“The victim stated that Straitiff would take photographs of them using his cellular phone and then download them to a private folder and iCloud,” one victim told Troopers Clayton Duvall and Justin Handlin.
Handlin reported in court documents that Straitiff admitted to raping and sexually assaulting the four girls over the years.
Straitiff was arraigned on four counts of child rape and multiple counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, possession of photographs depicting a child in a sex act and unlawful use of a computer.
Connellsville District Judge Ron Haggerty denied Straitiff bond citing the severity of the charges. According to online dockets, Straitiff has no prior criminal record.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.