Former Trinity teacher guilty in child rape case
A Washington County jury found a former Trinity Area School District teacher guilty of sexually assaulting a child some two decades ago in a Somerset Township home.
State police said Thomas F. Kelley, 48, who lived in that area at the time and worked as a special education teacher at Trinity High School, raped a girl when she was 6 or 7 years old, in 1997. The assault was not reported to police until October 2015.
Jurors deliberated for less than three hours Wednesday, after closing arguments that morning on the second day of Kelley’s trial before Judge Michael J. Lucas.
Kelley showed little sign of emotion while the jury was polled. The victim in the case hugged Assistant District Attorney Adam Yarussi.
“Justice was served. The victim got to make her statement, tell her story,” Yarussi said outside the courtroom. “And the jury saw the truth.”
Assistant Public Defender Rose Semple, who represented Kelley, declined comment.
Kelley maintained his innocence.
“Mr. Kelley told you that he absolutely did not do these crimes, and he was shocked” at the allegations, Semple said when she addressed jurors during her closing argument Wednesday morning.
Kelley was found guilty of charges including rape, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, child endangerment, corruption of minors, indecent assault and aggravated indecent assault. Lucas set sentencing for Jan. 26 and ordered a presentencing investigation by the county adult probation office.
Kelley was free on $25,000 cash bond, but Lucas raised that amount to $250,000 cash bond following his conviction.
Sheriff’s deputies escorted Kelley from the courtroom to Washington County jail.
Kelley resigned from Trinity after he was asked to do so, according to a pretrial filing. State Department of Education records show he also surrendered his teaching license in lieu of discipline in 2010, the same year he resigned.
Kelley went in to work in the natural gas industry in Washington before moving to Texas to work for an energy company. He was living in San Antonio when he made arrangements to return to Pennsylvania and turn himself in during early 2016 when the charges were filed.
Yarussi said Kelley is expected to face trial later this year or early in 2018 on a second set of charges – which involve another young girl – that police filed at the same time. Lucas later issued a ruling severing the two sets of charges.