Court date set in long-running sexual assault case
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A 40-year-old Aston man has been given a pretrial conference date of April 26 on allegations that he sexually abused a young girl from the time she was 5 years old until she was 14.
Manuel Molina, of the 110 block of Washington Avenue, is charged with 105 counts, including rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, statutory sexual assault against a person 11 years or younger, aggravated indecent assault against a person less than 13 years old, endangering the welfare of a child and corruption of minors, as well as related charges of child pornography, filming a child in a sex act and criminal use of a communication facility.
All charges were held for trial after a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Jack D. Lippart in March. Molina, represented by defense attorney Steven O’Meara, will make his next appearance before Common Pleas Court Judge G. Michael Green.
A member of the newly formed District Attorney’s Child Abuse and Exploitation Task Force received word of a child sexual assault in late summer 2020, according to information previously released by District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer.
Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division Detective Mark Bucci conducted an interview with the alleged victim in September. The girl, then aged 15, described in that interview how Molina’s conduct allegedly escalated over time.
The girl told Bucci that Molina regularly assaulted her beginning when she was 5 years old and told her that if she reported the abuse to anyone, “he would hurt her mom,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.
The girl said it was common for Molina to take pictures and videos of her wearing no clothes from the waist down using his cell phone and at one point when she was about 9 years old directed her to expose herself so he could take a better photograph, according to the affidavit. Molina also allegedly showed the girl pictures of himself posing without any clothes on.
The alleged victim also said Molina engaged in intercourse with her on more than 10 occasions from the age of 12 to 14 and forced her to perform other acts, including oral sex, according to the affidavit.
He also allegedly used his mouth and hands on her from the ages of 5 to 15 and showed her pornography on computers or his cell phone. When she objected to the pornography, Molina told the alleged victim she would “get used to it,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit additionally describes how Molina allegedly made the girl touch his penis while watching pornography and inserted objects into her so she would not “tear.”
A search warrant was executed on Molina’s address in September for digital devices, including a hard drive taken from his bedroom, according to the affidavit. A forensic analysis of the hard drive revealed video of Molina sexually assaulting the alleged victim and corroborated much of what she had told interviewers, according to the affidavit.
The alleged victim was also allowed to listen to a brief audio segment of that video, and identified herself and Molina as the voices that could be heard, the affidavit says.
Molina remains free on 10% of $450,000 bail posted last month, according to online court records.