Oct 12, 2016 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Eric Stull sobbed and convulsed while admitting Wednesday to raping and molesting a young girl on at least 34 occasions over a decade.

Stull said he was sorry as he crouched over in his shackles and cried, apologizing to the court while pleading guilty to 34 felony counts each of child rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child and unlawful contact with a child, along with another 30 counts of corruption of minors.

“I had inappropriate contact…” Stull told the court before trailing off.

However, Greene County Assistant District Attorney Brianna Vanata found his remorse unbelievable and demanded he tell the court exactly what he did.

“Why are you crying?” Vanata said.

She then reminded him that he raped, molested and at times filmed sexual acts with the girl from the time she was a toddler and continued over the next decade before state police arrested him in April.

“I destroyed (her) innocence. I destroyed my family’s dreams,” Stull said. “You’ve seen the videos. I was wrong.”

Stull, 48, of 44 A St., Teagarden Homes, rejected a plea deal offered by prosecutors for him to plead guilty to all charges in exchange for a prison sentence of 20 to 40 years. His public defender, Kimberly Furmanek, said Stull rejected the deal because he wanted to undergo a pre-sentence investigation, which she said he thought “would help him.”

He will be sentenced by Greene County Judge Lou Dayich at a later date. Each child rape charge carries up to 20 years in jail, meaning Stull could be imprisoned for the rest of his life.

“I will take whatever punishment I need to,” Stull told the court.

State police found 35 videos showing Stull molesting and raping the young girl between May 2006 and April 28. Investigators raided his home April 29 and troopers said they found evidence during the search that Stull was producing child pornography in his home. He allegedly shared some of the videos on the Internet through file-sharing groups, police said.

He was arrested the day of the search while driving a work vehicle in the Waynesburg area.

In June, a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh handed up a 41-count indictment against Stull on charges of production, distribution and possession of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor. He will appear in federal court in two weeks for manufacturing and distributing child pornography, Vanata said.

Stull told Dayich he is taking prescription medication for anxiety and suffers from PTSD from a training accident with the National Guard last year. He said he has been hospitalized two or three times for mental illness.

Following his plea hearing, Stull was returned to the Washington County jail, where he is being held without bond. His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled and might take longer, Dayich said, because of the extensive pre-sentence investigation that must be performed.