Penn Hills man charged in connection to indecent assault of child in Sharpsburg
A Penn Hills man is charged with felonies that include unlawful contact and corruption of minors after, Allegheny County Police said, he sexually assaulted a 7-year-old girl in Sharpsburg.
Richard Sheets, 29, of Universal Road, is also charged with dissemination to minors and indecent assault stemming from a March 4 incident along Penn Street.
The girl told police during an interview at the Child Advocacy Center of UPMC Children’s Hospital that she was assaulted by Sheets during a weekend spent in Sharpsburg, according to a criminal complaint.
At a home along Penn Street, she was alone with Sheets in the living room while other adults were elsewhere in the house, police said.
According to court documents, the girl was sitting next to Sheets on the couch and saw him watching “something inappropriate” on his phone. She described it to police as a naked woman, the complaint said.
She told police Sheets slid his other hand onto her lap and touched her over her clothing while he “kept digging his hand into his pants,” according to the complaint.
The girl told police she was eventually able to run to another room, the complaint said.
He is awaiting a date for a preliminary hearing before District Judge Matt Rudzki.
Tawnya Panizzi is a TribLive reporter. She joined the Trib in 1997. She can be reached at tpanizzi@triblive.com.
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