Man facing charges of raping girl, 8

In another case, a woman is accused of sexual battery.

AUSTINTOWN — A man accused of raping an 8-year-old girl while living with her family this summer was indicted on three counts of rape and three counts of gross sexual imposition.

He could face life in prison if convicted.

A Mahoning County grand jury indicted Harry Fraley, 61, of Royal Mall apartments in Niles, said Austintown Detective Ray Holmes. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

Fraley is described in an Austintown police report as a family friend. The girl’s mother told Austintown police Aug. 28 that he sexually assaulted her daughter on numerous occasions from June through August. The assaults occurred at the family home and at Leonard Kirtz School, where Fraley used to be a security guard, the report says.

The report says that Fraley threatened to hurt the girl if she told anyone what was going on.

Neighbors and the girl’s grandmother gave statements that they saw unusual behavior between Fraley and the child, including Fraley kissing the girl “all over her body” in front of their house, by his car and on his car.

Witness report

A witness who reported seeing him fondle the child on a trampoline in the yard “over a several-week period” contacted Mahoning County Children Services.

But the girl would not confirm to CSB that the assaults were occurring until Fraley moved out of the family’s home, Holmes said.

Holmes presented the case directly to the grand jury. The girl could then be spared the possibility of having to testify in the county court while the felony charge was being processed there, Holmes said.

Youngstown police received a complaint from the girl’s mother Sept. 4 that Fraley was stalking the child at her school — St. Christine’s on Schenley Avenue. YPD’s report says he drove his vehicle into the main playground, rolled down his window and looked at the girl. He did not say anything to her, the report says. Then, he fled.

Holmes said the school was notified.

Fraley was convicted of public indecency in 1997 and 1999 after pleading no contest in both cases. He lived in Boardman at that time.

In the first case, he exposed himself to a 3-year-old girl in a department store. He was given probation.

In the second case, he exposed himself to a child who was sitting in a car while waiting for her mother outside an apartment complex. He was put on probation. He had to be evaluated by a state certified facility for public indecency and was ordered to get counseling, according to Mahoning County court records.

Another case

Another sex offense case from Austintown resulted in an indictment Thursday. Debra Walker, who formerly lived in Austintown, is charged with two counts of sexual battery, a third-degree felony. She is accused of sexual conduct with a juvenile male who was known to her.

The victim, now 18, told Austintown police he had been sexually molested by Walker since he was 12 years old in Tuscarawas County and recently in Austintown, a police report says. She will be given a summons to appear in court.