A Lehighton man charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl has waived the charges to Carbon County court.

Franklin Derr III, 21, of South Street, is charged with aggravated indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors, and indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age.He is free on $50,000 unsecured bail.Derr had been scheduled for a hearing before District Judge Edward M. Lewis of Jim Thorpe but opted to have the charges forwarded to the county court. A defendant has a choice of a public hearing before a district judge or having the case heard in county court.The arresting police officer in the case is patrolman Scott S. Prebosnyak of the Lehighton Police Department.The alleged offense occurred on June 21.Prebosnyak says in the affidavit that the alleged victim told police she was raped by Derr.The police officer adds that Derr denies there was any forcible sexual conduct, but that he did have sexual intercourse with the victim. He allegedly told police he thought the victim was 17 years old.