Mt. Lebanon high school student charged with rape
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A 17-year-old Mt. Lebanon High School student remained in a detention center today on charges that he raped one teenage girl, assaulted another and sent threatening text messages to a third.
Mt. Lebanon police Lt. Aaron Lauth said the boy, whose name is not being released because he is a juvenile, is currently being held in the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center.
The boy was arrested Monday.
Mt. Lebanon police received a report of a rape involving a teenage girl in the suspect's car in September 2011. While investigating, police discovered that the boy might have assaulted another teenage girl in his Mt. Lebanon home in August of 2010, Lt. Lauth said.
Investigators also tied him to some threatening text messages sent to a third teenage girl in September 2010.
"All of them had a sexual tone," Lt. Lauth said of the incidents.
Because the victims and the suspect are all teenagers, Lt. Lauth declined to say how the victims knew the suspect or to provide further details about the accusations, none of which involved the school's campus.
Mt. Lebanon School District administrators said in a statement that they plan to continue to cooperate with police during the investigation and to inform parents about the arrest.
The boy now faces charges of rape, sexual assault, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, indecent assault and indecent exposure for the incident in September 2011.
Charges of aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault follow the August 2010 incident.
The texts in September 2010 led to charges of making terroristic threats and harassment.
Pennsylvania law allows police to charge a minor as an adult if the minor has previously been adjudicated delinquent -- the juvenile court system's equivalent of guilty -- or if the alleged crimes were serious and involved a weapon, Lt. Lauth said. He said the suspect did in this case did not meet those requirements.
First Published February 1, 2012 5:21 pm
