EBENSBURG - A Cresson-area man was sentenced to 11 to 23 months in the Cambria County Prison and will spend five years on probation afterward for sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl at a Nanty Glo home.
Carl Schafer Jr., 43, who pleaded guilty to felony indecent assault and a separate case of recklessly endangering in an unrelated case earlier this year, will have to register his address with state police when he is released from county jail but was not found to be a sexually violent predator by a Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board.
Schafer stood before Judge Norman Krumenacker III and apologized Tuesday, Public Defender Lisa Lazzari said.
The mother of the victim testified, saying she worried for her young daughter and what Schafer's actions caused, Assistant District Attorney Jessica Aurandt said.
Investigators said the man was initially taken in by the family because he had nowhere to stay.
Jackson Township police accused Schafer of sexually assaulting the girl from January to May of 2010. Rape and other charges were initially filed against Schafer, who had an Ebensburg-area address at the time.
Schafer initially said he would take a polygraph test and had "nothing to hide" but later declined, saying he was following his attorney's advice.
The reckless endangerment charge stemmed from a 2011 traffic altercation in the Portage area, court records show.
Mirror Staff Writer David Hurst is at 946-7457.
