Feb 3, 2015 4 min read

The state Superior Court Tuesday upheld the sentence of a Waynesburg man found guilty by a Greene County jury Dec. 19, 2012, of raping a 13-year old Morris Township girl in July 2011.

Charles Edward Cumberledge III, 21, of 735 Race St., also was found guilty of sexual assault, statutory sexual assault and indecent assault. He was sentenced on April 12, 2013, to serve 11 to 22 years in prison.

In his appeal, Cumberledge argued there was insufficient evidence presented at trial to prove he was 18 years old when the incident occurred. Cumberledge said this would have made him a juvenile and therefore it was an error at trial to present a verdict slip to the jury asking if it found “the alleged incident occurred at all, it occurred after June 2, 2011.” Cumberledge turned 18 June 3, 2011.

The commonwealth placed the time frame in which the rape would have taken place between July 15, 2011, and July 31, 2011, based on statements by the girl, her 11-year old brother and their stepmother.

In his decision, Superior Court Judge John Bender said, “He (Cumberledge) cites no case law for the proposition that the commonwealth is required to prove the precise date on which a crime occurred beyond a reasonable doubt, presumably because no such requirement exists.”

Cumberledge pointed to a document prepared by a doctor, not called at trial, to support his claim of being 17 when the alleged incident occurred. However, there were contradictions in the doctor’s report regarding the time frame.

Appellant’s counsel conceded that, “he was not sure of anything” with regard to whether the statements were accurate, or recorded accurately, Bender said. “We cannot conclude that the trial court committed an error of law in failing to halt the proceedings based solely on this tenuous evidence, given that other testimony indicates that the appellant committed the crime in question after his 18th birthday,” Bender added.

The girl testified at trial Cumberledge was babysitting her and her brother on the day of the rape. She said it happened on a day shortly before the school year started. She said she was downstairs and Cumberledge was upstairs when he called to her to bring him a phone. She said after entering the room Cumberledge pushed her down on the floor and raped her.

Her brother testified he went upstairs to check on his sister and, after looking through a hole in the door to the room, saw Cumberledge on top of her while she was kicking and hitting him. The boy said he entered the room, flipped the lights on and off, ran downstairs and locked himself in a bathroom. He, too, testified the assault took place “close to school” commencing.

The children’s stepmother also gave testimony at the trial to support the assault occurred in the time frame claimed by the commonwealth.

Cumberledge acknowledged to police babysitting the children in the past but only in the presence of another person, such as their older brother. When the investigating officer asked why the girl might accuse Cumberledge of the assault, he said he told on her once for not doing her chores, according to the criminal complaint in the case.

Assistant District Attorney Brianna Vanata told Cumberledge’s jury there may have been inconsistencies regarding the specific date of the rape but the children’s accounts of what took place were always the same.

“There is a difference between being mistaken and lying,” Vanata told the jury, asking them how reasonable it is to expect the children to remember the specific date after more than a year had passed before the trial began.

Cumberledge is serving his sentence at SCI-Somerset. As part of that sentence, Cumberledge is required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law for the remainder of his life.