By Joe Pinchot
HERMITAGE — A New Castle couple has been charged with trying to buy off a teenage girl who was scheduled to testify against a New Castle policeman charged with sexual assault.
The girl has been living in Hermitage.
Robert A. Bogdan, 20, and his girlfriend, Billie D. Esposito, 35, each have been charged with three counts of intimidation of a witness and one count each of obstructing administration of law, hindering apprehension and conspiracy to intimidate a witness.
Ms. Esposito was taken to Mercer County Jail following her arrest Thursday. Bogdan was arrested in Lawrence County and was lodged in Lawrence County Jail.
The state Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation said Bogdan and Ms. Esposito drove Tuesday to where she has been staying in a sport-utility vehicle she knew belonged to Richard L. Corbin, the man charged with sexually assaulting her.
The couple said they wanted the girl, who is related to Bogdan, to write a statement that the sexual assault never took place, and that they could get her in touch with an attorney to help her, the AG’s office said.
The couple talked about giving the girl $4,000 in exchange for helping Bogdan with illegal drug sales, the AG’s office said. They also said they wanted her to beat up the other victim, the AG’s office said.
Bogdan and Ms. Esposito returned Wednesday in Corbin’s SUV and offered the girl $100 to move furniture, the AG’s office said.
The girl declined all the offers and said she fears Bogdan, the AG’s office said.
Corbin was charged July 30, 2008, with two counts each of statutory sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault for allegedly assaulting girls ages 13 and 15 in January 2008 at his Union Township home.
According to a New Castle News report of the younger girl’s testimony in Corbin’s September 2008 preliminary hearing:
Corbin, who was assigned to New Castle High School, gave the girls a ride home from school. Later, they asked for a ride because they were going out. When the girls discovered Corbin had alcohol in his car, they asked if they could drink it, and he took them to his home.
The younger girl said she had drunk seven or eight shots mixed with a soft drink, and went upstairs to use the bathroom. While upstairs, she saw a computer in a bedroom, and entered the bedroom. Corbin followed her in and had sex with her.
The girl went downstairs, told the older girl that she had had sex with Corbin, and the older girl went upstairs.
Corbin’s trial is set to start Monday.
