Plea deal for McKees Rocks man in child sex assault
Just won new trial for 1990 rape case
A McKees Rocks man who won a new rape trial after serving 27 years in prison — but was charged with sexually assaulting a child several months after being freed — pleaded guilty Thursday in the new case to one misdemeanor count of indecent assault of an unconscious person.
As part of the plea deal with John Kunco, 54, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office withdrew a range of felony sexual assault and other charges in the case, which involved a 7year- old victim.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos sentenced Kunco to five years of probation. She ordered him to avoid contact with the victim. And she directed him to register with the state as a sex offender for 25 years.
“In any case involving the sexual or physical abuse of a child, the welfare of the victim is paramount. We believe the plea was an appropriate resolution in that the victim did not have to recount the trauma,” said Mike Manko, the DA’s spokesman.
Among the withdrawn charges are two counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child, unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of minors.
Allegheny County police charged Kunco in August after observing a forensic interview with the victim. The child told interviewers that she was asleep and woke up to Kunco assaulting her. She told him to stop, according to the affidavit of probable cause, but he did not.
In May 2018, Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Christopher A. Feliciani ordered that Kunco be released from prison after vacating his conviction for raping and torturing a 55year- old woman in New Kensington in 1990.
Kunco was sentenced to 45 to 90 years in prison, but Judge Feliciani ruled in favor of a new trial after listening to arguments over DNA evidence recovered from blood found on a blanket at the crime scene. The DNA did not match Kunco’s and is from an unknown male.
The judge ordered a new trial, which is pending.