Jeannette man charged with raping girl over 8 years
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A Jeannette man was arrested Thursday by Westmoreland County Detectives and charged with raping a girl over the past eight years.
Ronald Lee Rice, 59, was arraigned before Washington Township District Judge Jason Buczak on charges of rape, aggravated indecent assault on a person less than 13 years old and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse filed by Detective John Manderino.
Buczak ordered Rice held in the county prison after he failed to post $100,000 bond pending a preliminary hearing June 3.
Manderino reported in court documents the victim, who is now a teenager, said the assaults began in 2011, when she was about 5 years old, when Rice would babysit her in her parents’ home in Washington Township. The family later moved to a home in Jeannette, where the abuse continued for several years when the parents were not at home, according to Manderino.
Manderino said in court documents that the teenager was asked to help Rice clean his home on the 200 block of North 5th Street in February and the victim told investigators Rice sexually assaulted her again.
“She could not take it anymore and told her mother what Ronald Rice was doing to her,” Manderino said in court documents.
Rice did not have an attorney listed in court papers.