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Man charged in sex assault that occurred 10 years ago

2 min read
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A Washington man was charged Thursday by state police with aggravated indecent assault after an 18-year-old woman told police he sexually assaulted her 10 years ago in Jefferson Township.

After an April interview with the alleged victim, police filed an arrest warrant for James Andrew Burnsworth, 40, who is incarcerated in Washington County jail.

The woman told police when she was 8 years old, she lived in Pit Gas with her mother, two siblings and Burnsworth, who was in a relationship with the girl’s mother, according to the criminal complaint. She told police Burnsworth touched her inappropriately about 10 times between September and October 2007.

She told police about three specific incidents that occurred at the residence while her mother and siblings were not home. During one of those incidents, Burnsworth was “more aggressive” with her, the complaint said. She told him “no,” but he “just kept saying it was OK,” according to the complaint.

“The victim related that Burnsworth told her he would do something bad to her mother if she told her mom or did not let him touch her,” police said in the complaint. “The victim stated that she feared for her mother’s safety, due to his prior incidents of striking her mother.”

Police said the now-18-year-old woman was in a therapy session in March when she told her therapist about the alleged abuse, the complaint said. The therapist then notified police.

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