A Carbon County jury panel was scheduled to resume deliberations today in the trial of a Monroe County man charged with the rape of a child.

The jury in the case of Stephen E. Hogg Jr., 35, of Kunkletown, started deliberations at 4 p.m. Wednesday after hearing the closing arguments of the opposing councils and the charge of the court by Judge Steven R. Serfass.At 9 p.m. Serfass sent the jury home for the night after he had failed to reach a verdict. Deliberations were scheduled to resume at 1 p.m. today. The trial began on Monday morning.Denies chargeHogg took the witness stand Wednesday and firmly denied the charges filed against him. He is facing 12 criminal counts including two each of rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor in a sexual manner, aggravated indecent assault, corruption of a minor with the defendant older than 18 and indecent assault on a person less than 13. He is accused of raping a then 12-year-old girl twice in July 2015 when he was staying with her family in the Indian Mountain Lakes development in Albrightsville, Penn Forest Township.When asked by defense counsel, Paul Levy, of the public defender’s office, if he ever had sexual contact with the girl, Hogg responded, “Absolutely not.” He later said, “I didn’t touch that girl.”Hogg said he learned of the charges in May 2016 when Jill Geissinger, of the Carbon County Office of Children and Youth, appeared at his residence and told him she was investigating an allegation of sexual assault. He said he was dumbfounded and began crying when he heard the charges.He also said everyone he spoke to at the time was telling him the alleged assaults occurred in July 2015. He said at the day of the preliminary hearing in 2016 he said he realized he did not live with the victim’s family in July but it was September 2015. He said he knew it, in part, because the victim was going to school.Levy asked him again if he committed the acts charged, and Hogg said, “I made many mistakes in my life, but I’m no monster.”Under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Ann Dyrda Hatton, the prosecutor, he admitted cutting short an interview he had with state police concerning the matter in May 2016. He also said he didn’t remember telling investigating state trooper Eric T. Porpiglia during the interview that the victim had come on to him and that he had moved into the home because he was fighting with his girlfriend and left that residence in Kunkletown.Hogg, who is presenting an alibi defense, admitted the alibi defense first came up at jury selection last month on March 6. He said that was because the prosecution had expanded the time frame of the alleged assault and provided alternate dates.Levy also called two other witnesses on Wednesday before concluding his case, one of which was somewhat of a surprise.Rita Wetzel, of Albrightsville, who said she knew the victim, testified after she called Levy on Tuesday evening so tell him she knew something about the case.She testified that she met the victim at a bus stop in the development where she would take her children to met their school bus. She claimed she attempted to become a mentor for the victim and told the victim she could confide in her with anything she wanted to tell her.She testified that the girl spoke to her four times about the alleged assaults and gave four different versions of what occurred. She said the first version was that the assaults occurred during the daytime in her bedroom; the second version she told indicated all her family were in the house at the time; the third version was the assault happened at night while everyone was sleeping; and the fourth version she said the victim told her she was really scared to go through with the case. Wetzel also said the victim told her “it already gone to far.”Wetzel also claimed the girl only spoke of one assault, never a second.Under cross-examination by Hatton, Wetzel admitted she never went to the police about what she knew after the allegations came to light, which she said was her mistake. She also said that a friend she told about what the victim said, contacted her on Tuesday and said that a prior witness for the defense, Jo Papvich, told her to call Levy and tell him what she knew. She said she then called Levy.RebuttalHatton then called the victim as a rebuttal witness. The girl denied telling Wetzel any of the details of the assaults, stating, “It was too personal.” She also denied having a close relationship with Wetzel, who claimed during her testimony that the two have become close. She said Wetzel pressed her about detalis of the assaults and she told Wetzel “I didn’t want to talk about it.” She added she was never close with Wetzel and didn’t really want to talk about what happened with anyone because it was so personal.She admitted saying something about going too far, but said she meant about her having to testify in court about the details of the assaults.The girl previously testified she had been assaulted twice in July in her bedroom, which was across the all from a guest room Hogg was using while staying at the home. She said the assaults occurred a few days apart.She said she never told anyone until March 2016 because she was scared. She claimed Hogg had threatened her and her family. The allegations came to light in March 2016 when the victim told a girlfriend. The girlfriend’s mother overheard the story and called the victim’s father and told him about the alleged assaults.The father then called state police and the investigation began.