Dec 17, 2014 3 min read

WAYNESBURG- A Carmichaels man scheduled to go to trial today for the alleged rape of a child, instead entered a plea Wednesday before Greene County Judge Farley Toothman to reduced charges.

Larry Francis Conard, 65, of Lot 25 Route 21 Mobile Home Park, was arrested in January when Cumberland Township police Detective Tony Gismond filed charges accusing Conard of sexually assaulting a little girl at his residence on various occasions starting in January of 2012 and ending in October of 2013 when she was between the ages of 10 and 11 years of age.

The district attorney’s office agreed to withdraw multiple charges in exchange for Conard’s guilty plea on the remaining three charges against him of indecent assault involving a victim who was 13 years of age or younger, corruption of minors of a sexual nature and indecent exposure to a person less than 16 years of age. The agreement also include three counts in a separate but related case for terroristic threats, intimidation of a witness involving the victim and Conard’s now ex-wife, Alice Conard, and harassment. Conard pleaded no contest to these charges.

He told the court, “I’d like to have a little time left,” and repeatedly said he just wanted to get on with his life. He offered no apologies and only vague explanations regarding the various counts for which he agreed to offer pleas.

According to the criminal complaint in the original case, the girl’s guardian reported the incidents in October of last year to Cumberland Township police after the child told her what happened.

The guardian told police she confronted Conard, who told her what he did and said he confessed to a preacher and was saved.

The child told Gismondi that Conard would sometimes watch her while her guardian went to doctor appointments or the store.

She said Conard told her to never tell anyone what happened, because he would get in trouble.

During a forensic interview at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, the girl said she also feared she would get into trouble if she told.

Conard will be sentenced following an assessment by the Sex Offender Registration Notification Act board to determine if he is a sexually violent predator. Regardless of the determination of the SORNA assessment, Conard will be required to register under Megan’s Law as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.

The Commonwealth’s offer, agreed upon by the girl and her family, recommends a sentence of 9 to 23 ½ months incarceration followed by 5 years of court supervised probation. The judge has discretion at sentencing to accept the recommended term or alter it within the sentencing guidelines available to him for the charges. Conard is to have no contact of any kind with the victim or his ex-wife as a condition of sentencing. He was remanded into the custody of Greene County sheriff’s deputies to be returned to Greene County jail until the SORNA is completed and sentencing rendered.