Man convicted of child sex abuse

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June 28, 2012

Man convicted of child sex abuse

Sandra K Reabuck sreabuck@tribdem.com The Tribune-Democrat Thu Jun 28, 2012, 11:38 PM EDT

EBENSBURG — A local man has been convicted by a Cambria County jury of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy during incidents here and in Armstrong County.

Patrick Leroy Rugg, 33, was charged with four felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of a child, which each carry a mandatory minimum term of 10 years in prison, and three related charges.

Judge Linda Fleming has the option to run his sentences concurrently rather than consecutively.

A sentencing date has not been set.

Rugg’s bond was revoked after the jury returned its verdict Wednesday evening, and he was taken by sheriff’s deputies to the county prison.

Ebensburg police said there were four incidents of abuse in 2009 and 2010.

Rugg, who was represented by Altoona attorney Thomas Dickey, did not take the stand in his own defense.

Assistant District Attorney Tamara Bernstein called 14 witnesses to testify, including a person who witnessed one of the incidents – a neighbor who looked though a window and saw Rugg molesting the boy.

In addition, Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg, a pediatrician who examined the boy, testified that there was medical evidence of sexual abuse.

Just before the trial was to open Monday, Dickey made an unsuccessful attempt to have the trial delayed because of the verdict last week in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse trial in Centre County.

Dickey suggested that jurors here could have been influenced by the decision in Bellefonte.

But the judge refused to grant a 12th continuance in the case. She agreed with Bernstein that the Cambria jurors had been questioned and selected as impartial last week while the Sandusky trial was in progress.

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