Mar 13, 2015 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – A Greene County jury of two women and 10 men took less than an hour to find a former Waynesburg woman guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in her home Oct. 28, 2013.

Tracy Lynn Kennedy, 47, currently of Masontown, was found guilty of committing involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault and indecent sexual assault.

Judge Farley Toothman altered Kennedy’s bail from a $15,000 percentage bond to a $15,000 straight cash bond and remanded her to the custody of Greene County sheriff’s deputies.

During the two-day trial, Kennedy testified to giving multiple accounts of what transpired when questioned by Waynesburg Borough Police about the incident with the boy.

She initially said nothing happened and later claimed she was the victim. Eventually, she changed her story and said what took place between her and the boy was consensual.

”When they asked for DNA, I told them I lied the first time when I said nothing happened,” Kennedy said.

She said she believed the boy was of legal age when she performed a sex act on him but stopped because, “I just didn’t feel right cause I’m so much older.”

That DNA test proved conclusively that Kennedy had sexual contact with the boy, according to testimony by Catherine Palla, a forensic DNA scientist with the state police crime lab in Greensburg.

It was the boy’s mother who reported the incident to Waynesburg police in October 2013 after her son came home crying. His 13-year old girlfriend was with him. They came from Kennedy’s residence where they were visiting Kennedy’s 13-year-old daughter.

The boy testified Kennedy asked him to follow her into another room where she sexually assaulted him. He said he didn’t know what to do and just froze. When he left the room, he went to his girlfriend and told her they needed to leave, he said.

Defense attorney David Russo told the jury women like his client are the reason there is a “mistake of age defense.” Russo categorized Kennedy as a lonely woman who had not been in a relationship for more than a decade. He said she may have misunderstood the boy’s friendliness as something more.

District Attorney Marjorie Fox said Kennedy was supposed to be the grown-up in this situation. Fox said Kennedy should have been supervising her daughter and her friends in a parental role. She said it was up to Kennedy to determine the boy’s age.

”You can’t do a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ here,” Fox said.

Fox questioned Kennedy as to how she came to believe the boy was 18. Kennedy repeatedly told her she didn’t know, but suggested he appeared mature and said she had seen him purchase cigarettes.

Kennedy will undergo a pre-sentence investigation as well as a risk assessment under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. The assessment will determine if Kennedy is a violent sexual predator. Regardless of the outcome, Kennedy will be required to register for the remainder of her life as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.