False Allegations Of Sex Abuse Lands Chesco Man In Jail

WEST CHESTER, PA — A 48-year-old East Whiteland Township man was sentenced in the Chester County District Justice Center to one to 23 months for falsely reporting his neighbor sexually assaulted his son.

Kiran Jonnala was also fined $5,000 by Judge Analisa Sondergaard.

Jonnala was convicted by a jury on Dec. 2 of filing false reports of child abuse and retaliation against a witness or victim.

After an investigation by the East Whiteland Township Police, the defendant’s son confirmed that he was never touched inappropriately and he never indicated to his father in any way that he had been.

“The defendant’s actions were reckless and damaging, not just to the victim in this case, but to all those who are victims of child sexual abuse,” said Acting Attorney General Michelle Henry.

Henry said that by lying and reporting information that he knew was false, the defendant wasted valuable time and resources that could have been spent getting dangerous predators off the streets.

According to an investigation conducted by the attorney general’s office:

• The victim and the defendant lived in the same residential community governed by a homeowner’s association of which Jonnala was the president.
• The defendant and the victim have sons who belonged to the same Boy Scout troop.
• In October 2020, Jonnala emailed the leader of the Boy Scout troop that his son had been sexually abused by the victim.
• The troop leader contacted ChildLine to report the abuse and suspended the victim from all Boy Scout activities pending the completion of the investigation into the defendant’s allegations.

Prosecutors argued during the trial that Jonnala made up the allegations in retaliation for disputes over unrelated meetings with the homeowners association.

The case was referred to the attorney general’s office by the Chester County district attorney’s office.