Richard Behrens, 65, of Tyrone, was charged with indecent assault from an incident that allegedly took place April 3 at a pull off along Decker Hollow Road, in Snyder Township.
It was reported that Behrens and an adult teenage female from Tyrone were on their way home from an Altoona Curve game, and Behrens pulled over along Decker Hollow Road. He began hugging the female victim and inappropriately touched the victim, without her consent. This inappropriate and unwanted touching was to the upper half of the female victim’s body.
Behrens is a practicing Blair County attorney and was a former Blair County Court of Common Pleas judge.
As soon as the complaint was filed by state police, Magisterial District Judge Fred Miller’s court recused itself due to the defendant being a practicing/active attorney of the Blair County Bar Association.
The next step was for Blair County Court President Judge Jolene Kopriva to assign a different magisterial district judge to the case, and then a summons and preliminary hearing date would be established.
A summons and notice of a preliminary hearing were sent out Wednesday.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled to be heard at District Court 24-3-01 in Tyrone on May 27 at 11 a.m.
The matter has been assigned to Centre County Magisterial District Judge Thomas Jordan, of Centre Hall, for hearing and disposition.
