PUNXSUTAWNEY BOROUGH, Pa. (EYT) – A hearing has been scheduled for an 85-year-old man who allegedly sexually assaulted a disabled woman at a residential facility in Punxsutawney.
Court documents indicate William Luther Umbaugh, of Punxsutawney, is scheduled to stand for a preliminary hearing in front of Magisterial District Judge Jacqueline J. Mizerock at 11:00 a.m. on September 22.
Umbaugh faces the following charge:
– Indecent Assault Person With Mental Disability, Misdemeanor 1
He remains lodged in the Jefferson County Jail on $25,000.00 monetary bail.
The charge stems from an incident that occurred at a residential facility in Punxsutawney.
Details of the case:
According to a criminal complaint, around 8:45 p.m. on August 8, Punxsutawney Borough Police were dispatched to a residential facility in Punxsutawney for a report of an elderly man who was witnessed assaulting a female resident at the facility.
Police then spoke to the director of nursing, who reported receiving a phone call regarding William Umbaugh sexually assaulting a known female. Police then spoke to the employee of the facility who had reported witnessing the incident.
According to the complaint, the witness reported she first saw Umbaugh signaling to a known female resident to come toward him and said she “didn’t think anything of it” until she checked a short time later and saw Umbaugh with one hand down the female resident’s blouse and the other hand between her upper thighs. She then separated Umbaugh from the victim and sent him back to his room.
The complaint notes the witness reported she also noticed two of the three buttons on the victim’s blouse were unbuttoned when they had been buttoned earlier.
Police also spoke to the victim, who the complaint states is both intellectually disabled and physically challenged.
According to the complaint, when police asked the victim if anything had happened to her, she appeared to become upset and said, “the man put his hands between her legs.” The victim then began to thrash around on her bed, and when the officers attempted to ask her further questions, she would only repeat her initial statement and thrash harder. Police then stopped the questioning to avoid further trauma for the victim.
Police then spoke to Umbaugh.
The officers explained they were there to investigate an accusation made against him about him having inappropriate contact with a woman at the facility, and Umbaugh reportedly stated he was “just talking to her” and said she was at least six feet away from him at all times.
According to the complaint, the officers told Umbaugh he was observed by a staff member with his hands on another resident in inappropriate places, and Umbaugh responded that he didn’t know what they were talking about. He reportedly said, “I never put my hands on her.”
Police then contacted Jefferson County Control and requested that the Jefferson County EMS respond to the facility to transport Umbaugh to the Punxsutawney Area Hospital to be evaluated by mental health for placement in the Senior Transition Unit. The evaluation found Umbaugh did not fit the criteria to be housed in a mental health facility, according to the complaint.
Umbaugh was arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Jacqueline J. Mizerock at 11:02 a.m. on August 9.
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