A former Fayette County man serving a 20-year prison sentence in Virginia after his 2018 arrest in a child-abuse sting recently was brought to Westmoreland County to face multiple child abuse charges here.

Lawrence W. Henry Jr., 48, who most recently lived in Normalville until his Dec. 14, 2018, arrest in Bedford County, Va., on seven counts of using a communication device to facilitate sexual crimes against a minor, was arraigned before East Huntingdon District Judge Charles Moore on charges of abusing a teen girl 20 years ago. The Westmoreland County case came to light after Henry’s arrest in Virginia.

Henry is charged with 24 counts involving sexual abuse of minors. Moore ordered Henry held in the county jail on $50,000 bond pending a preliminary hearing, tentatively slated for Wednesday.

According to court documents filed by state police, Henry repeatedly assaulted the teen at an East Huntingdon home where he lived with the victim’s mother. The assaults occurred in 2000 and 2001, when the girl was 14 or 15, according to Trooper Christopher Cole.

During questioning after his arrest in Virginia, Cole reported that Henry told sheriff’s deputies in Bedford County that he “assaulted a juvenile in Pennsylvania sometime in the early 2000s.”

According to court documents, Cole located the victim, who is now in her 30s, and interviewed the woman.

Cole reported that she told him that Henry was a “heavy drinker and the sexual assaults would occur when he became intoxicated.”

“The victim said she was afraid and pretended to be asleep while the assaults were happening,” Cole said in court documents.

Trooper Brandon Yeager and Cole travelled to the Bedford County Adult Detention facility and interviewed Henry. Cole reported Henry admitted sexually assaulting the teenager on three occasions.

Cole said Henry would have been 29 or 30 when the assaults occurred.

According to Virginia court documents, Henry was arrested in 2018 during a Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children investigation.

Henry drove to Virginia after contacting a juvenile who he planned to have sex with, but the juvenile turned out to be a law enforcement officer, according to documents.

Henry pleaded guilty in 2018 and was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison with 10 years suspended and four years of probation after he is released, according to Virginia court dockets.

According to online court dockets, Henry has no prior arrest record in Pennsylvania.

Henry has been an inmate at the Bedford prison facility since his arrest, according to court dockets. Bedford is located just over 20 miles east of Roanoke.

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