HOLLIDAYSBURG — The former Penn State Altoona student accused of sexually assaulting four underage girls and running a prostitution and drug-selling business in the area pleaded guilty Monday to 35 felony and misdeameanor offenses.

Jeffrey Guo, 25, who has been incarcerated since his February 2019 arrest in Altoona, was scheduled to stand trial in Blair County Court this week.

Instead, Guo entered guilty pleas to several counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors, indecent assault of minors, dissemination of explicit sexual materials to minors, promoting a house of prostitution, procuring patrons for a house of prostitution, possession with intent to deliver and related offenses.

Guo’s sentence, scheduled to be handed down May 9, will rest with Judge Wade A. Kagarise, who accepted the pleas and dismissed the jurors.

District Attorney Pete Weeks and Nichole Smith said Monday that they will be seeking a lengthy incarceration for Guo.

“We’ll be asking the judge to impose sentences that run consecutively,” Smith said. “There are four (teenage) victims in this case with separate acts involving each, so their sentences should be imposed consecutively.”

Defense attorney Thomas M. Dickey said Monday that while his client faces significant jail time, some offenses could merge for sentencing purposes or because they involve the same act, they could be addressed with concurrent sentences.

Dickey also said that by rendering guilty pleas, Guo is accepting responsibility for his actions.

“My client has always been adamant that he never forced anyone to do anything they didn’t want to do,” Dickey said. “That’s why he didn’t plead to the rape charges or to kidnapping or any other offenses that we felt involved force or a threat of coercion.”

Altoona Police Chief Joseph Merrill, one of several investigating officers ready to testify during trial, said Guo deserves the maximum sentence on every count for his prostitution, drug delivery and sexual assault offenses. Three of the victims were 13 years old, and one was 15.

“By far, his most heinous act was the luring and victimizing of young girls in his crimes,” Merrill said.

Weeks praised the police department for an investigation that developed in February 2019 after parents started going through their daughter’s cellphone information.

Then pretending to be their daughter, the parents proposed to Guo that he come over to their residence to “hang out.” Upon arrival, the parents confronted Guo, took his car keys and called police who immediately responded and took Guo into custody while he remained in the neighborhood.

Criminal charges indicated that the daughter and a friend, both 13, had accepted a ride a few days earlier from Guo, then 22, who took them to Motel 6 where he sexually assaulted them.

Additional charges indicate that Guo also forced a third 13-year-old girl to perform oral sex on him at her Altoona residence where he had gone to smoke marijuana with the girl. He later sent her a photo of his penis, charges indicate.

The fourth teenage victim came to light when an Altoona mother contacted police to report that her daughter was raped by Guo in March 2018 when Guo had an apartment in Juniata. The girl would have been 15 years old at that time.

As the investigation continued, police learned that Guo was providing two Penn State Altoona students — Kerry O’neill and Gianna Guerin — with large quantities of marijuana at their Gwin Road residence for packaging and sale.

When police showed up at the Gwin Road residence, they reported smelling a strong odor of marijuana while standing in the driveway. They later learned that Guerin had baked cookies with marijuana the day before.

Charges against O’neill and Guerin, who were expected to testify during trial, are still pending.

The four teenage victims were also among the 25 to

30 witnesses slated to testify.

Weeks also said Monday that his office made a plea offer almost two years ago to Guo that was very similar to the one he accepted.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.