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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Blair County judge has rejected the challenges offered to criminal charges filed in June 2020 against a Hollidaysburg area man accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl between 2016 and 2018.
William J. Stonebraker, 53, had asked President Judge Elizabeth Doyle to suppress statements that he and his wife, Marie Stonebraker, made in 2020 to a state police trooper who was investigating the allegations.
Doyle, who convened court hearings to review Stonebraker's challenges and who reviewed relevant transcripts, issued a Nov. 27 ruling finding no reason to grant the suppression request.
Instead, Doyle deemed William Stonebraker's 2020 case to be ready to advance to trial.
In addition to the 2020 case, Stonebraker also faces similar charges filed in March by state police at Hollidaysburg, reflecting similar allegations of another youth.
And after filing the charges in March, state police charged Marie Stonebraker in May with dozens of child sexual abuse offenses, also based on the same allegations.
Both Stonebrakers have posted bonds to remain free on bail. Their cases are scheduled for review in Blair County Court on Jan. 11.
Defense attorney Thomas M. Dickey, who represents William Stonebraker, sought the suppression ruling to address the charges filed in 2020.
Dickey contended that on May 17, 2020, trooper Jennifer Wills interviewed William Stonebraker at the state police barracks without advising him of his Miranda rights.
In addressing that challenge, Doyle relied on a June 14 court hearing, where Wills testified that she called William Stonebraker and asked if he would come to the state police barracks regarding the allegations. The trooper said William Stonebraker drove himself there, signed himself in as a visitor and was free to leave.
In her ruling, the judge noted that Wills' interview with Stonebraker lasted about an hour and 45 minutes and that William Stonebraker had declined to talk with Wills about the sexual allegations without a lawyer.
"The trooper did not do anything deceptive, coercive or improper," Doyle concluded.
Dickey also asked Doyle to suppress statements collected on June 5, 2020, when Wills spoke by phone to Marie Stonebraker, who put William Stonebraker on the phone.
In seeking this suppression ruling, Dickey claimed that Marie Stonebraker was a cooperating informant who was working with Wills to get inculpatory statements from William Stonebraker.
Doyle, however, found no evidence that Marie Stonebraker was acting on behalf of the police. When testifying in court, Wills said it was Marie Stonebraker who put her husband on the phone, which prompted William Stonebraker to begin asking questions and to volunteer information.
Wills said she didn't direct Marie Stonebraker to put William Stonebraker on the phone. The trooper also said that she told William Stonebraker that if he wanted to talk with her, he should first contact his attorney.
"The trooper did not do anything deceptive, coercive or improper," Doyle concluded.
William Stonebraker's 2020 charges include hundreds of counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 16, unlawful contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault, endangering the welfare of a child and related offenses.
His 2023 charges are similar, based on the allegations of another female who described incidents at a Frankstown Township residence, starting when she was 6 years old, between February 2014 and February 2021.
Marie Stonebraker, represented by defense attorney Joseph Addink, is facing charges that developed from the same victim. They include aggravated indecent assault of a person less than 13, indecent assault of a person less than 13, corruption of a minor, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child and indecent exposure.
Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.