Morrisville Man Sentenced For Raping Girl In Falls Twp: DA

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — A Morrisville man has been sentenced to seven to 15 years in state prison for the violent assault and rape of a young girl that occurred in Falls Township in January of 2021.

Shane Ferguson, 38, pled guilty to charges related to his crime back in September. These charges include rape by forcible compulsion, aggravated indecent assault, aggravated indecent assault of a person less than 16, indecent assault, indecent assault of a person less than 16, and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office.

Ferguson was sentenced on Tuesday. In her victim impact statement on Tuesday, the victim’s mother told Common Pleas Judge Gary B. Gilman that the attack was a “horrific nightmare” that caused “fear, sheer panic, and anxiety” to her daughter.

“A resounding message must be sent to sexual predators,” she told Judge Gilman.

According to Deputy District Attorney Kristin McElroy, the Jan. 17, 2021 attack on the victim “stands out as one of the most violent” she’s prosecuted in her career.

The victim, a then 13-year-old girl, told police she was asleep in her bedroom when Ferguson woke her up and raped her last year. Ferguson then grabbed her and pushed her onto a living room couch, where he continued to sexually assault her.

After scratching Ferguson’s face, she was able to get him to stop for a moment and tried to escape. As she fled out of the apartment and down the stairs, Ferguson chased her and grabbed her by the hair, which caused Ferguson to fall on top of her. She was able to escape after that.

When police arrived, Ferguson had already fled the scene. He was arrested in Florida a month later by members of the U.S. Marshals Florida Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Ferguson will also serve two to four years of parole after his prison sentence. He will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.