Man pleads guilty to sexual assault
A Belle Vernon man pleaded guilty Friday in Washington County Court to sexually assaulting a girl over a six-year period.
Richard Michael Meglaye, 36, pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and statutory sexual assault before Judge Valarie Costanzo.
Investigators said the incidents occurred at a home in North Strabane Township and at locations in Allegheny, Butler and Westmoreland counties.
The victim was about 11 when the sexual assaults began in 2008. The assaults continued through July 2014, when the girl’s mother went to the North Strabane police station to report the incidents. The girl no longer lives in the area.
The girl gave police and forensic investigators specific details about the sex acts and her contact with Meglaye. She said Meglaye knew her parents.
The inappropriate contact began when Meglaye took her to a secluded area in a public park and began kissing and fondling her, police said. Meglaye began having sex with the girl after she turned 13, supplying her with alcohol and marijuana prior to engaging in sex.
The girl told police Meglaye told her not to tell anyone what happened because he did not want to go to jail and lose his children.
Charges of indecent assault of a person younger than 13, indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person younger than 16, intimidation of a witness and corruption of minors were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
Meglaye is free on $25,000 bond. He must undergo an assessment by the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board before he is sentenced.