Mar 12, 2015 2 min read

A Charleroi man accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl last October was ordered to stand trial Wednesday even though the teenager would not testify against him.

Evan Bell, 47, was ordered held for court by District Judge Curtis Thompson on charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, indecent assault of a person who is less than 16, illegal communication with a minor, furnishing alcohol to minors, corruption of minors, reckless endangerment, wiretapping, interfering with custody of children and intimidating witnesses to give false or misleading testimony and withhold information. A charge of furnishing tobacco was dismissed after the hearing in Central Court.

Assistant District Attorney Kristin Clingerman said the girl was sworn in and gave her name to the court but would provide no other testimony. Clingerman said the girl’s parents contacted Charleroi Regional police after finding letters she reportedly had written to the defendant.

“She has not been cooperative so we were expecting this,” Clingerman said of the girl.

Clingerman said the prosecution was able to use text messages Bell sent telling her to delete all messages he sent, including those telling her she did not have to testify against him.

“We were able to use those messages as an exception to the hearsay rule,” Clingerman said.

Bell reportedly had sex with the girl on multiple occasions between last October and January. Clingerman said Bell convinced the girl they were going to get married.

The girl’s cellphone was also confiscated. Police also seized his cellphone, which was equipped with an application that recorded their conversations.

“There were hours and hours of sexually graphic conversation,” Clingerman said. “We used that to establish a description of the sex acts to support the charges.”

Bell remains in Washington County jail on $250,000 bond. He will be formally arraigned May 20.