Guilty plea to sex assault

Ex-Hatfield man faces jail for sex with girl, 13

NORRISTOWN >> A former Hatfield Township man faces some time behind bars after he admitted to having sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl.

Eric James Cremins, 20, formerly of the 2000 block of Maple Avenue, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 6 to 23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of statutory sexual assault in connection with a June 2018 incident at his former residence.

Judge William R. Carpenter, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, ordered Cremins to

report to the jail on April 29 to begin serving the sentence. Cremins, who was 19 at the time he had sexual contact with the 13-year-old girl, is eligible for the jail’s work release program during his incarceration.

The judge said Cremins also must complete five years’ probation following parole, meaning Cremins will be under court supervision for about seven years.

Cremins, most recently

of Woodview Drive in Malvern, will be under sex offender supervision during his parole and probationary periods and must comply with all recommendations for treatment after a psychosexual evaluation, the judge said.

The judge ordered Cremins, who was represented by defense lawyer Keith Andrew Harbison, to have no contact with the victim or other minors as a condition of the sentence.

With the statutory sexual assault charge, prosecutors alleged Cremins engaged in sexual intercourse

with someone less than 16 years of age at a time when he was four or more years older than the girl.

An investigation began in July 2018 when a Hatfield Borough woman reported to township police that she learned that her daughter had sexual relations with Cremins in his residence at the Hatfield Village Apartments on June 9.

When the girl was interviewed by child advocates she said she met Cremins at a local pool and the two exchanged phone numbers and social media

contact information, according to the criminal complaint filed by Hatfield Township Detective Richard F. Hoffner.

According to court documents, the girl told Cremins she was 15 years old.

The following day, the girl told detectives, Cremins sent her a text message and asked if she wanted to have sex and invited her to his apartment, according to the arrest affidavit. The girl went to Cremins’ apartment and the two engaged in sexual acts on June 9, according to the criminal complaint.