Lancaster Jehovah’s Witness member acquitted of decades-old sexual assault charges
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A Lancaster County jury acquitted a Lancaster man of sexually assaulting his daughter over a five-year period 30 years ago.
The jury deliberated about 90 minutes Tuesday before finding, 70, of the 400 block of Poplar Street, not guilty of aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault and endangering the welfare of children.Serrano’s attorney, county public defender Samuel Encarnacion, declined to comment on the verdict.In his opening statement, however, Encarnacion portrayed the daughter as vengeful, saying she tried to incriminate him multiple times over the years.LNP | LancasterOnline typically does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault by name or relationship, however the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, which prosecuted the case, said Serrano’s daughter agreed to be identified when the office announced his arrest two years ago.The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Serrano was one of four Jehovah’s Witness elders across Pennsylvania that state prosecutors charged in October 2022 following a grand jury investigation. Subsequently, the office announced more arrests of Jehovah’s Witness members, including two others from Lancaster County.The grand jury found that Serrano had molested at least five other girls, though charges were not brought in those cases because of statutes of limitations governing possible applicable criminal charges. However, that information was not allowed at trial.Although the charges involving his daughter concerned allegations from decades ago, they were permitted by exceptions written into the statute of limitations.Serrano pleaded guilty in 1993 to two counts of indecent assault involving two girls, 13 and 15, in Willow Street in 1992, according to court records and newspaper archives. He was placed on probation for five years and ordered to pay the girls’ medical and counseling costs and was required to attend a sex offenders program.
In June, a Lancaster County jury found Norman Aviles-Garriga, one of the other Jehovah’s Witness members from Lancaster, guilty of molesting three girls in his church between 1999 and 2003. He awaits sentencing.
The third member from Lancaster, Abimael Valentin-Matos, 44, is awaiting trial.
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