A jury will decide the fate of a 22-year-old Tyrone man who police say raped two juvenile Tyrone girls on Nov. 9.
Following a preliminary hearing yesterday at the office of District Magistrate Fred Miller, charges including two counts of felony rape, sexual assault, indecent assault without the consent of the other, corruption of minors and selling or furnishing alcohol to minors, were held into the Blair County Court of Common Pleas for Scott Myers.
The commonwealth withdrew to charges of felony aggravated indecent assault.
According to a police affidavit filed by arresting officer Kevin J. Garhart of the Hollidaysburg-based state police, the charges stem from an incident that occurred 4/10 of a mile off state Route 453 on Hill Road in Tyrone Township on Nov. 9.
Police said the evening before, the defendant picked up three juvenile girls in the vicinity of Citizen’s Fire Co. in Tyrone and later purchased beer for the girls. After dropping the youngest of the three girls off at home, the defendant and two victims drove to the Sinking Valley area where they continued to drink alcohol.
According to the report, the three then drove to the defendant’s trailer, which is located off SR 453, where the girls relieved themselves and “sat around for awhile.” They then told the man they wanted to go home.
Police said they left the trailer and began driving on Hill Road when the defendant stopped the car and backed onto a side road. Police said he then exited the car and asked which girl was going to partake in sexual relations with him.
Police said both girls declined the proposition, but the man eventually forced vaginal intercourse on both juveniles.
The girls learned of the man’s identity when one of them acquired his wallet from his pants pocket during the assault, according to police.
Police said the girls talked the man into taking them home and fled from him when he stopped to fuel his vehicle in Bellwood.
The next morning, police contacted Myers at his residence along SR 1013. The man told police that he picked up the girls after they asked him to purchase cigarettes and beer for them. He said he was only with the girls for less than an hour and never drove further than the Birmingham Bridge on SR 453.
He told police he dropped them off at Mario’s Pizza in Tyrone then went to a friend’s house, where he stayed until about 4 p.m. He said the girls returned at that time to ask him for a ride to Bellwood.
Later, the defendant was questioned at the state police barracks in Hollidaysburg and told authorities that he had consensual sex with one of the victims.
Currently, Myers is lodged in the Blair County Jail in lieu of $80,000 percentage cash bail. Jury selection for the case is scheduled for Feb. 24, according to the Blair County Court Administrator’s Office.
Myers’ was represented by Blair County Public Defender Loreen M. Kemps. Assistant District Attorney Catherine Miller prosecuted the case for the commonwealth.
Both girls testified at the two-hour hearing.
