The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

September 25, 2009

UPDATE: Child rape case goes to court

By Matt Snyder

SANDY LAKE — A Sandy Lake man had felonies including rape of a child held to court against him for allegedly having sex with a 12-year-old girl, who was later found to be pregnant.

Andrew William Bennefield, 26, of 41 Bennefield Lane, had charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, and rape of a child held to court before District Judge D. Neil McEwen on Wednesday.

Bennefield is accused of having sex with the girl on May 21 and 22 while staying overnight in the same Grove City home as the victim, police said.

The girl was sleeping in the same room as Bennefield and several others, and asked him for a glass of water, police said. He fetched it and met her in the dining room on the way back.

Police said the girl, then 12, hugged Bennefield and that they kissed and had sex in the dining room and later a bedroom. Bennefield did not use a condom, she said, and when police asked if Bennefield had ejaculated, the girl told police she did not know what that word meant.

The pair also had sex June 21 in the same home while she was 13 years old, the victim told police.

A July 1 blood test confirmed the 13-year-old girl is four to six weeks pregnant, said the victim’s mother.

Bennefield later confessed in a written statement to having sex with the girl on May 21, but denied any contact with her in June.

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