Charleroi man jailed in child sexual assault case
CHARLEROI – A North Charleroi man faces charges he threatened to harm a girl with a pickax if she reported he allegedly forced her to have sex with him behind a locked door multiple times since December 2013.
Charleroi Regional police also accuse Lucas Michael Gessel, 23, of making threats against the 13-year-old girl’s mother, court records show.
Police said the assaults took place many times at a location on Lower Meadow Avenue, adding the girl claimed Gessel also provided her with alcohol and marijuana.
Gessel is accused of securing a door to prevent the girl from leaving until after the sex acts were completed, the affidavit supporting the charges shows.
Gessel, of 336 Rear Isabella Ave., is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, furnishing a minor with liquor and marijuana, corruption of minors, false imprisonment, unlawful contact with a minor, intimidation of a victim and sexual assault.
He is in Washington County jail on $500,000 bond set Monday by District Judge Larry Hopkins.