From staff reports
A former Venango County man facing more than 30 charges that accuse him of raping and sexually assaulting a now 16-year-old girl over the course of four years waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday in Venango County Central Court.
Michael O’Brien, 53, of Clearfield, who is being held without bail in Venango County jail, will now face further court proceedings.
O’Brien had been a physics teacher for 18 years in the Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District until the end of the 2016-17 school year, then he was employed as principal at St. Stephen Elementary School in Oil City during the 2017-18 school year.
Police said in a criminal complaint that the girl’s mother told troopers she had found a video on a computer in her home in December 2019 of the girl and O’Brien discussing him touching her.
When the girl’s mother confronted O’Brien, he never denied the accusations and became angry, the complaint said.
When the girl’s mother spoke to her daughter about the video, the girl said she had recorded and uploaded the video to the computer and had recorded two other similar videos, according to the complaint.
The girl also told her mother she had been sexually abused by O’Brien since she was 10 or 11 years old and that O’Brien had engaged in sex with her, the complaint said.
The girl told police she had been abused by O’Brien between July 2015 and July 2019 on many occasions, and she also told police she had secretly recorded O’Brien in November 2019 and uploaded the video in December 2019 “in case something ever happened to her in the future,” the complaint said.
O’Brien was charged with single felony counts of rape forcible compulsion, statutory sexual assault-11 years older and incest of minor-complainant 13-18 years; four felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse-forcible compulsion, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse person less than 16 years of age, aggravated indecent assault-forcible compulsion and aggravated indecent assault-complainant less than 16; two felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with child and aggravated indecent assault-complainant less than 13 years of age; two misdemeanor counts of indecent assault person less than 13 years of age; and four misdemeanor counts of indecent assault forcible compulsion and indecent assault person less than 16 years of age.
