Tanya Kach's right hand quivered yesterday as she swore to tell the truth.

Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Tanya Kach, left, hurries from Municipal Court, Downtown, yesterday after testifying for more than an hour about the decade she spent with Thomas Hose, 48. Click photo for larger image.

Then she walked to the witness stand, a prosecutor's arm wrapped around her for support, and testified in sometimes graphic detail about spending the last decade in a bizarre and illicit sexual relationship with a middle-school security guard, Thomas J. Hose, who is 24 years her senior.

For an hour during a preliminary hearing, Miss Kach described how Mr. Hose kept her hidden in the McKeesport home he shares with his parents during years of sexual encounters that began simply with a kiss under a gym stairwell at Cornell Intermediate School in McKeesport.

Miss Kach said she sometimes thought of abandoning Mr. Hose and returning to school. But she also said she thought of getting married.

Despite having access to a phone in the couple's bedroom and a door that bolted from the inside, she said she stayed because Mr. Hose threatened to kill her and because he would sometimes "pull a stupid guilt trip."

	Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Thomas J. Hose, left, was held for court yesterday on a variety of sex crime charges. At right is Hose's attorney, James Ecker. Click photo for larger image.

"There were a few times when he got up into my face and said, 'If you leave, I will kill you,' " Miss Kach told District Judge Donald H. Presutti. "He'd sit there on the edge of the bed and say, 'Oh, you can't leave me. I can't lose you. You're my life. I'm the only one that cares about you.' "

"Then when he said those things," she continued, "I felt bad."

Miss Kach, 24, became an international phenomenon last month when she suddenly reappeared in McKeesport after vanishing in 1996 as a 14-year-old runaway. She told police that Mr. Hose, 48, had ensconced her in his home. Authorities quickly arrested Mr. Hose and an accused accomplice, hairdresser Judith Sokol, of Duquesne.

After hearing testimony, Judge Presutti held both suspects for court on all charges. Mr. Hose, a tall, thin man who favors black clothing that matches his dark hair, and Ms. Sokol, who walks with a silver cane, will now stand trial for a variety of sex crimes and offenses against children.

The charges include statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and interference with custody of children. Some of the charges were added yesterday.

Police said Ms. Sokol, 57, cut and dyed Miss Kach's hair -- from long and blonde to chin-length and red, Miss Kach testified -- and allowed a room in her attic to be used for trysts.

	Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Judith Sokol, an accused accomplice, was also held for court yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

It was there on a futon, Miss Kach testified, that she lost her virginity at 14 to Mr. Hose as Ms. Sokol slept nearby. She said she could tell Ms. Sokol was asleep because of her heavy snoring.

Miss Kach said Ms. Sokol knew she was a minor and was aware that she and Mr. Hose were intimate. "She knew we were having sex. She and I discussed it one-on-one, girl talk," Miss Kach said.

Early in 1996, Miss Kach said, she shuttled late at night between Ms. Sokol's home and Mr. Hose's house on Soles Street. It did not take long, though, before she moved into Mr. Hose's bedroom, she said.

By late March 1996, a case worker from Allegheny County's child welfare agency was seeking Ms. Sokol in connection with Miss Kach's disappearance.

Eric Slagle testified that he spoke with a woman on the telephone whom he presumed was Ms. Sokol. "She said that she did not know where [Miss Kach] was at," Mr. Slagle said.

Some time that month, Miss Kach said, Ms. Sokol "freaked out and severed all ties with us" after a case worker began poking around.

Lawyers for both Mr. Hose and Ms. Sokol have denied the allegations.

Mr. Hose's attorney, James Ecker, said of his client, "He might have been insane at that time. I don't know. He hasn't been examined by a doctor."

Miss Kach testified that she wanted to marry Mr. Hose at one time. But she bristled at a suggestion by Mr. Ecker that she introduced herself in public as Mr. Hose's fiancee, saying only other people did that.

Several times at yesterday's hearing, Miss Kach was asked to raise her voice. When told by the judge to speak up, Miss Kach replied in frustration: "I'm quiet. I can't help it. I was quiet for 10 years."

Miss Kach said she was kept in Mr. Hose's bedroom for 10 years, but she also testified she was allowed to go outside starting in 2000. Sometimes she remembered exact dates, sometimes she did not.

"You have sex with somebody for 10 years, how are you going to remember dates?" Miss Kach snapped at Ms. Sokol's attorney, Angela Carsia, at one point.

Miss Kach described how her relationship with Mr. Hose began with an innocent conversation in front of her 8th-grade locker in the fall of 1995.

They had a friendly conversation, she said, and then spoke every day. Miss Kach said she developed a crush on Mr. Hose and called him at his home. He warned her to hang up if his mother answered. Miss Kach, a self-described chronic runaway and troublemaker in school, said Mr. Hose got her out of scrapes.

"If I was in a fight and he broke it up, I got off. If I was caught skipping [class], I got off," Miss Kach said.

On Jan. 2, 1996, the relationship turned physical. Miss Kach said she was hiding with a friend under the gym stairs when Mr. Hose caught them. She said Mr. Hose told the friend to leave.

"We were talking," she said, "and it just happened. We kissed."

On Super Bowl Sunday, Jan. 28, 1996 -- the Steelers lost to the Dallas Cowboys -- Miss Kach said she went to Mr. Hose's house. His parents were away, but his son, Justin -- two years younger than she -- was home.

Miss Kach said they watched the game and then she and Mr. Hose went alone to his bedroom, where they kissed and petted.

"I was enjoying my time there with him. He said, 'Spend the night.' So I did," Miss Kach said.

She said Justin stayed in the room with them that night. She testified she stayed there for several days while Mr. Hose went to work. Then, she said, he took her to Ms. Sokol's house, where she stayed for another few days.

Miss Kach left and returned to her home and school for four days. Then, on Feb. 10, she ran away again from her father's house -- this time for 10 years. Miss Kach testified that Mr. Hose instructed her to go to Ms. Sokol's house.

It was Ms. Sokol's idea to dye and cut her hair, "so they didn't recognize me," Miss Kach said. "And she said it would be fun."

Mr. Ecker questioned why Miss Kach did not use the telephone in the room where she stayed to contact her family or summon help. She said the phone worked, but initially said "it was always off the hook" to stymie bill collectors.

She also said Mr. Hose's mother often used the phone and that he'd told her not to use it.

Mr. Hose stared straight ahead as several reporters shot questions at him. Mr. Ecker told him to stay close by and say nothing.

"Yes, sir,'' Mr. Hose replied quietly.

In regards to Miss Kach's testimony, Mr. Ecker said, "She could have walked away at any time. ... Assuming she was there, assuming she had sex, assuming a lot of things are true, when we get into a courtroom, we'll see.''

Lawrence Fisher, who represents the Kach family, implored Mr. Hose to bring the case to a quick end.

"The Kach family is asking that Mr. Hose do the right thing, that he take responsibility for his actions and spare the family the ordeal of a trial,'' Mr. Fisher said. "The evidence is overwhelming.''