By MARISSA DECHANT – Staff writer
An Oil City man who was involved in the indecent assault of a 5-year-old girl in the summer of 2016 was sentenced Friday to one to five years in state prison.
Judge Robert Boyer handed down the punishment to Dusty Perry, 22. Perry will receive credit for 680 days he served in jail after he was sentenced in 2014 in connection with a 2013 robbery case.
Perry pleaded guilty in May to a misdemeanor count of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age. He was originally charged with additional felony counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child and aggravated indecent assault – complainant less than 13 year old, but those charges were withdrawn in exchange for the guilty plea.
The child underwent a forensic interview last July with Venango County Children and Youth Services.
When originally interviewed by Franklin state police, Perry denied any wrongdoing. He did admit to the act in a subsequent interview, saying he touched the girl out of curiosity.
Perry’s 2014 sentence stemmed from a weekend-long crime spree that started Halloween night in 2013.
Oil City police said at the time that Perry and another Oil City man robbed a man at gunpoint, shot out several vehicle windows and stole a toilet from an unrented apartment on Pearl Avenue.
He pleaded guilty in March 2014 to a felony count of conspiracy – robbery – threatening immediate serious injury and a misdemeanor count of possession of an instrument of crime with intent.
Perry was sentenced to 12 to 24 months in Venango County jail and ordered to pay a $200 fine, followed by five years probation.
He was resentenced Friday in that case after his probation was revoked, and he was ordered to serve terms of one to five years in state prison on the conspiracy-robbery and possession of an instrument of crime charges. Those sentences will run concurrently.
