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Russell man pleads guilty to statutory sexual assault

A Russell man has pled guilty to statutory sexual assault.

Joseph S. Nowacki, 24, entered a plea last Friday to a count of statutory sexual assault: 4-8 years older.

While Nowacki was initially charged with numerous offenses, First Assistant District Attorney Caleb Gnage explained the rationale behind the plea.

“Sexual assaults are the most difficult cases for a victim and in kind for the prosecutor to pursue, especially when the victim is a child,” he said on Wednesday. “Most often the event that took place during the criminal episode is the most horrific experience that will ever occur in a victim’s lifetime.”

That can make re-living the events at trial gut-wrenching experiences.

“Rather than giving into every instinct to forget and move on from their traumatic event, during criminal prosecution victims of sexual assault are forced to relive and recount their assault in front of large groups of people which include their perpetrator,” Gnage explained. “Plea negotiations are the tool that both ensure that a defendant is punished for his actions and lift an enormous burden off the victim from having to testify.”

Gnage said that, after “numerous” discussions with the victim and her family “we all agreed that a plea was a best outcome in this case rather than proceeding to trial.”

While the “ultimately decision” lies with the Commonwealth, he added, “we honored the victim’s decision.

Police investigated the allegations for more than a year before bringing charges against Nowacki back in 2015.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, the alleged victim, who was 13 when the alleged abuse began, did not report the crimes until March 2014 because she was “fearful for her life and the lives of her family members if Nowacki ever found out she said anything.”

Police said the victim reported she remembered the date of the first time Nowacki “forced her to have sex with him because it was the same day (his ex-girlfriend) gave birth to her and Nowacki’s child and (the ex-girlfriend) was in the hospital at the time.”

According to the document, the victim said Nowacki forced her into various sexual acts over a period of about eight months from late November 2012 through August 2013, by threatening her and her family. The alleged victim “stated that she was physically abused during this same period of time… and had received scars from lighter burns… been kicked in the head… and almost run over by a four-wheeler Nowacki was operating.”

The victim “also stated that Nowacki once held a knife to her and threatened to use it on her.”

The following charges against Nowacki were not prosecuted as part of the plea: Two counts of rape forcible compulsion and single counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse person less than 16 years of age, aggravated indecent assault, corruption of minors, rape threat of forcible compulsion, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse forcible compulsion, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault without consent, aggravated indecent assault – forcible compulsion, aggravated indecent assault – threat of forcible compulsion, indecent assault, indecent assault forcible compulsion, indecent assault threat forcible compulsion, indecent assault person less than 16 years of age, terroristic threats and simple assault.

At an additional docket, Nowacki pled to felony theft by unlawful taking. Charges of theft of property lost, mislaid or delivered, criminal mischief and tamper with/fabricate physical evidence were not prosecuted.

“What you see in Joseph Nowacki’s case is, four years after her abuse began, a young girl is now able to live her life knowing that she brought justice to Mr. Nowacki’s doorstep,” Gnage added.

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