Aug 8, 2018 3 min read

A Canonsburg man accused of exposing himself to a 15-year-old girl and her mother last month at North Strabane Township Municipal Park was ordered to stand trial Tuesday on several charges.

Samuel Robert Bruno III, 22, of 807 First St., was ordered held on charges of statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor, indecent exposure and open lewdness by District Judge Jay Weller after a preliminary hearing.

The 15-year-old girl testified that she had known Bruno for two or three weeks because he worked with her mother at a fast-food restaurant.

Her mother had asked him to go with them July 20 when they took a friend of the 15-year-old’s back to Donora.

When they returned to the area, they went to the park. The girl testified that her mother was walking a few feet in front of her and Bruno when he unbuckled his pants, pulled them down and exposed himself to her. He also allegedly told her that when he was high, he wanted to have sex with the girl and her mother.

The girl also testified that she saw Bruno ingest pills that he reportedly removed from her mother’s purse.

Those pills were later identified as Xanax, for which the girl’s mother had a prescription.

The 37-year-old mother, who has a learning disability, said they went to the park so she could talk with Bruno about the pills he allegedly had taken from her purse and ingested in front of her daughter and friend. She said she wanted to talk it out because she had to work with him.

While her daughter was on the other side of a pavilion, the woman said Bruno exposed himself and propositioned her, saying he wanted to have sex with her and her daughter. She said it was not the first time he made such a suggestion.

North Strabane police were not notified of the incident for several days. Both mother and daughter said they waited because the mother is on probation and should not have been with Bruno, who also is on probation. They also said Bruno told them that if they contacted police, he would tell officers that the mother had sold him the drugs.

Officer Samuel Interval, who filed the charges, contacted Bruno after talking with the woman and her daughter.

Interval said Bruno initially denied being at the park.

Bruno also talked with Sgt. Ian Ging, allegedly admitting that he told the mother he wanted to have sex with her but denying saying anything about having sex with her daughter.

Bruno’s defense attorney, Justin Ketchel, unsuccessfully argued that the statutory sexual assault charge should be dismissed because there was no physical contact with the 15-year-old girl.

Bruno remains in Washington County jail on $100,000 bond. He is scheduled to be formally arraigned on the charges Sept. 27.