Andrew Cornelius

A Warren man who trespassed at a Prospect St. residence and demanded urine from an eight-year-old has pled guilty.

Andrew Cornelius, 26, pled guilty to defiant trespass, corruption of minors and obstructing the administration of law or governmental function before Judge Gregory Hammond on Thursday morning.

In exchange for the plea, charges including defiant trespass, two counts of corruption of minors, furnishing drug free urine and two counts of criminal trespass – enter structure were not prosecuted.

District Attorney Rob Greene offered an amendment to the charges that changed the grading of the defiant trespass from a felony to a misdemeanor, explaining that the revised charge was more appropriate given Cornelius’ conduct.

Greene added that he consulted the victims in the case regarding the plea.

Judge Gregory Hammond, in reading the charges to Cornelius, said that the offense occurred at a Prospect St. residence on August 3 when Cornelius encouraged an eight year old to urinate in a bottle and then paid the minor, and two other minors, $20 to not tell anyone.

Warren County Adult Probation Department officers, with the assistance of the Conewango Township Police Department, arrested and said in a press release that Cornelius “provided a fake urine sample during a urine screen on August 2, 2016 while at a scheduled Probation office appointment.”

Cornelius then attempted to get the real thing.

“Multiple community members called local law enforcement agencies in Warren reporting that the defendant was coming to their residences asking for them to provide clean urine,” the Probation Department alleged. “One community member stated that the defendant walked into their home and demanded an eight-year-old juvenile to provide urine for him.”

At the time of arrest, Probation said that a “second urine screen was conducted at the jail which tested positive for multiple substances.”

Cornelius was originally placed on parole for simple assault. The Times Observer reported that he was sentenced to a short county sentence in September of last year after a May domestic dispute.