By Pam Regensberg
Camera Staff Writer

An Erie teenager charged with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old neighborhood boy pleaded guilty Friday to one count of sexual assault.

The 15-year-old, with his mother and attorney standing at his side, quietly said, "I sexually assaulted a minor," when Magistrate Tijani R. Cole asked what he did. The teen had spiky, dark hair and wore a baggy shirt.

At a hearing scheduled for July 8, he will be sentenced as a juvenile to a two-year deferred adjudication. At the end of two years, if he stays out of trouble, he will have no criminal record. Magistrate Cole will impose terms and conditions at the hearing.

David Moorhead, the 15-year-old's attorney, said his client "would like to express his remorse to the community."

With the help and supervision of the District Attorney's Office and the Department of Social Services, Moorhead said, he is hopeful that the guilty plea "can be the beginning of a healing process for the community."

The teenager was one of five pre-teen and teenage boys who have been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting children during the last two months in Erie.

Erie police arrested the 15-year-old on March 25 after the victim's mother reported finding the teenager naked in her 8-year-old son's room. The son told his mother that he and the other boy had been "humping," according to police records.

The 8-year-old boy, who was taken to St. Anthony Hospital in Denver for a sexual-assault examination, told police the teen had fondled him on several occasions, forced him to perform oral sex and sodomized him.

The teenager told investigators that he had "been with" the 8-year-old six times during the past year, according to police records. He also said the younger boy had been the aggressor in past sexual encounters, police said.

Under the plea agreement, the teenager must submit to a polygraph test, scheduled for June 11, to help officials determine the best treatment plan for the teen.

Contact Pam Regensberg at (303) 473-1329 or regensbergp@thedailycamera.com.

June 1, 2002

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