Montco Man Gets Jail Sentence In Bucks Co. For Sexually Assaulting Teen Runaway

RED HILL, PA — A Montgomery County man was handed a prison sentence this week of between 5 to 23 months in neighboring Bucks County after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a teenage runaway, according to media reports and court records.

Justin O'Neill, 22, was sentenced to time behind bars by Bucks County Common Pleas Court Judge Theodore C. Fritsch, Jr. Wednesday after O'Neill pleaded guilty back in March to felony charges of statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors and indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age.

The case dated back to 2020, when O'Neill was 20 years old, and involved a teenage girl who said she was assaulted by the defendant while she was sleeping in his car during her time as a runaway, according to a report in North Penn Now.

The website, which cited a criminal complaint, said the victim told authorities she had been sleeping in O'Neill's vehicle for several days prior to her returning home after running away.

The Perkasie Borough Police Department in Bucks County filed charges against O'Neill in August 2021, according to court records.

O'Neill, of Red Hill Borough in Montgomery County, was also given five months' probation in addition to the county jail sentence.

Fritsch also ordered O'Neill to have no contact with the victim, to undergo sexual offender supervision, to continue mental health treatment as recommended, and to obtain a GED, according to court records.

The judge, however, also found that O'Neill does not fit the criteria to be labeled a sexually violent predator.

The North Penn Now report said that police and victim's father had asked O'Neill whether he knew the girl was a runaway at the time of his contact with her, to which he replied that he was aware she was sleeping in his vehicle for several days prior to her returning home to be with her parents.