A Slippery Rock man, charged with sexually assaulting a young girl, was paroled after serving more than the minimum sentence handed down in Butler County Court on Thursday.
Justin M. Brown, 28, was sentenced to 9 to 18 months in Butler County Prison by President Judge Thomas Doerr. He has been incarcerated since December 2016, and was immediately paroled.
His parole will be followed by 60 months of county probation. Doerr also ordered that Brown complete any recommended counseling and treatment, as well as pay court costs.
Brown also will be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years.
He previously pleaded guilty to felony corruption of minors on Oct. 3. He was initially charged with two counts each of felony aggravated indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old and corruption of minors, as well as one felony count and one misdemeanor count of felony indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old after an incident on Dec. 9, 2016.
The remaining charges were dismissed as part of the plea.
Slippery Rock police filed the charges after being notified by a parent of a 12-year-old girl that Brown had inappropriately touched her.
When police interviewed Brown, he said he began baby-sitting the girl in 2012 on the 300 block of Grove City Road.
The affidavit of probable cause states that Brown admitted to cuddling with the girl, but denied touching her inappropriately.
He admitted to helping the girl adjust her bra “one time when she was having trouble putting it on,” the document states.
Brown later admitted to touching the girl “a few times” while the girl was changing, but stopped when she told him to stop, as well as on several other occasions, the document states.
Brown’s attorney, Joseph Nash, said his client had no prior criminal history before this incident and was a “low rating as a chance of recidivism” according to an assessment by the Sexual Offender Assessment Board.
Nash said Brown was studying biology at Slippery Rock University at the time of his arrest and “very much wants to get back on track with things.”
