A Butler man is facing charges for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in the Emlenton area.
A criminal complaint filed by Franklin state police says that in February 2019, the girl’s mother found her daughter had been interacting with a man named David Demharter, 22, and that they had been exchanging explicit messages.
The mother took her daughter’s phone to the Clarion state police barracks, the complaint said.
The girl told police Demharter knew her age the whole time they were in a relationship, and she also said Demharter got her to use various drugs and was physically and mentally abusive to her when she was with him, the complaint said.
She told police she initially met Demharter when she was at the UniMart in Emlenton with a friend in September 2018 and that he asked her for her social media identities and then began sending her messages, the complaint said.
The complaint also notes that on April 29, 2020, Demharter was arrested on felony charges by Mercer state police in a separate case in which he was accused of fathering a child by a 15-year-old girl.
Police spoke to Demharter in the Butler County jail in May and he denied being in a relationship with the 14-year-old girl or knowing her, the complaint said.
Demharter told police he had slept with lots of girls during that time and that he doesn’t remember half of them, the complaint said.
Demharter has been charged with felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors.
No preliminary hearing date has been set.
