Lehigh man admits to sexual assault, sent to state prison

A Lehigh County man admitted in Carbon County court on Friday to sexually assaulting a then 15-year-old female in Nesquehoning, and was immediately sentenced to a state prison.

Anthony Christopher Yerger, 22, of New Tripoli, appeared before Judge Joseph J. Matika to enter a plea to one count of statutory sexual assault of a person, 4 to 8 years of age.

He was charged with Nesquehoning police for incidents in December 2016 involving a then 15-year-old female.

During the guilty plea proceeding Attorney Matthew J. Mottola, of the public defender’s office, said his client believed that the victim was older than 15 and also that the sex was consensual.

Yerger told the court, “I apologize to the victim and her family. I should have looked deeper into her age.”

The victim’s mother read a statement to the court saying her daughter had to and still undergoes counseling. She said her daughter never leaves her side and does not trust men. The victim also read a statement detailing how the incident affected her life. She said she has lost weight and is “scared to be around men.” She also said he told Yerger how old she was at the time.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Gazo, prosecutor in the case, said the commonwealth agreed to a plea agreement in the case because of the defendant’s cooperation by not taking the case to trial and forcing the victim to testify.

However, he said any sentence imposed should run consecutive to a state prison term Yerger is currently serving. Yerger is an inmate in the state correctional institution at Laurel Highlands, Somerset County, serving a 16- to 84-month-term on similar charges.

Gazo added, “The victim will have to deal with this the rest of her life.”

Matika said looking at the victim today, it is hard not to believe she is much younger than her present age of 17.

Matika said to Yerger, “You took advantage of a young girl.”

Matika then sentenced Yerger to serve six to 24 months in a state prison, consecutive to his present sentence. He was also ordered to submit to a sexual offenders evaluation, supply a DNA sample, pay court costs of $1,000, when released on parole render 75 hours of community service and have no contact with the victim or her family.

He was given credit for 31 days spent in prison on the charge.