Two New Castle men arrested; face various drug, sex charges

The men were arrested after an adult victim reported them to police.

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Two city men faced testimony Wednesday that they let youths, some as young as 12, drink alcohol and smoke marijuana at their home.

Three of the children and an adult also testified they endured sexual and indecent assaults at the Wallace Avenue home of Daniel Joseph Donnelly, 51, and Michael Christopher Washington, 44. Donnelly is in the Lawrence County Jail on bonds totaling $105,000. Washington is also in jail on bonds totalling $125,000.

Most of the children said they’d known the men for about a year, visiting frequently to “hang out” with one another. The group included about eight friends. Donnelly is a relative of one of the teens.

New Castle police arrested the men Feb. 6. Donnelly is charged with aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors involving a 15-year-old girl. That girl testified at a preliminary hearing in Lawrence County Central Court that one night this winter, she’d smoked marijuana and fell asleep in Donnelly’s bedroom, awakening later to discover him sexually assaulting her.

Donnelly is also charged with indecent assault on a person less than 13 and corruption of minors. Those charges involve a 12-year-old boy, who testified Donnelly fondled and massaged his feet, taking videos of the massages and of his feet. The boy testified the fondlings happened “four or five times.”

Donnelly’s attorney, Joe Kearney, argued that the activity did not constitute an assault. Assistant District Attorney Kate Fee-Baird argued that because the activity was videotaped and because police found pornographic tapes in Donnelly’s room featuring foot fetishism, the charge should be upheld. District Magistrate David Rishel upheld it.

Rishel dismissed a charge of selling and furnishing liquor to minors in the case of a 12-year-old boy, who testified it was actually Washington who let him drink, while Donnelly smoked marijuana with him.

Two counts of corruption of minors and selling/furnishing to minors were upheld in a case involving a 16-year-old girl. Donnelly’s cases were transferred to the Lawrence County Common Pleas court, where he will plead or be tried.

Washington is charged with rape, statutory sexual assault, unlawful restraint, corruption of minors and selling/furnishing liquor to minors in a case involving the same 15-year-old girl.

She testified that she was alone with Washington in his bedroom, either in the fall or winter, and he started pressuring her to have sex.

“I said ‘no,’ and he said, ‘I am,’ and he had sex with me, and he said, ‘Don’t tell nobody,’” she said. The girl said she was not free to leave, because Washington had her arms pinned.

Washington also faces charges of rape of an unconscious victim, sexual assault and false imprisonment in a case involving a 36-year-old woman, who said she’d accompanied her 16-year-old daughter to the Wallace Street house for a Halloween party.

She said she got drunk, passed out and doesn’t remember anything else until the next morning, when she awoke “four feet away from my daughter in [Washington’s] room, with my pants and underwear off.” She said she asked him why her clothes were off, and when he wouldn’t tell her, she gave him “two days to give me an answer.”

Washington wrote her a letter, which was entered into exhibits. In it he admitted he’d had sex with her while she was unconscious.

She said that after she got the letter, she went to the Wallace Street house to learn the teens’ names and collect their belongings, because she intended to report what had been going on there to police. She reported the two men to police Feb. 2.

Washington is also charged with attempted statutory sexual assault, indecent assault on a person less than 16, corruption of minors and selling/furnishing involving a 13-year-old girl.

She testified that she stayed at the house for three days in January, and he tried “every day” to either kiss her or pull her pants down or her shirt up. “He kept saying he would have sex with me. Everyone told him I was 13. He said he didn’t care.”

Washington also faces corruption and furnishing charges involving a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy. His cases were held for Common Pleas court.