A Carbon County judge has denied a Kunkletown man’s appeal for a new trial and that all charges be dismissed, but allowed one count to be dismissed.

Judge Steven R. Serfass denied the appeal of Stephen Hogg, 35, of his conviction and sentence of 18 to 36 years in a state correctional institution.

Hogg was convicted by a county jury on April 6 of two counts 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. Ten of the 12 counts are felonies.

On July 3, Serfass sentenced him to the state prison term.

Attorney Paul J. Levy, of the public defender’s office, filed the appeal.

In response to the appeal, Serfass, in a 32-page opinion, granted his motion to have one count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Serfass noted that Hogg raised four issues in his appeal: whether the evidence was sufficient to establish two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse; whether the jury’s verdict was against the weight of the evidence when the commonwealth relied primarily on the juvenile victim’s testimony; whether the court erred by allowing the commonwealth to amend the information on the day of the trial to extend the time period in which the offenses could have occurred; and whether the court erred by allowing Dr. Andrew Clark to testify by telephone.

Serfass’ opinion denied all the contentions made in the appeal except to grant the motion that one of the counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse be dismissed.

In dropping the one count, Serfass wrote that the victim “testified that (the) defendant performed oral sex on her only once, during the second incident. Therefore, because the evidence established that defendant performed oral sex only one occasion, one count of IDSI should be dismissed.”

As to the other contentions, Serfass, citing the testimony at trial and prior court opinions, dismissed all of them.

At the trial, Hogg presented an alibi defense, which the jury rejected with its verdict.

State police at Fern Ridge charged Hogg with raping a young girl in July 2015 at her home in Albrightsville.

The commonwealth, represented by Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Ann Dyrda Hatton, alleged that Hogg raped a then 12-year-old girl in her home in the Indian Mountain Lakes development in Penn Forest Township on two occasions in July 2015.

Case history

On the day of jury selection on March 6, Levy notified the commonwealth that the defense was going to present an alibi defense. The jury panel was selected but Serfass delayed the start of the trial to April.

In the meantime, the commonwealth then moved to amend the original complaint twice, expanding the time frame from July 1 to 14 to the entire month of July, and a second filing expanding it to the months of July and September 2015 after the alibi notice indicated Hogg was going to present witnesses that claimed he did not live at the residence in July 2015.

The victim testified that Hogg raped her twice in the guest room, which the defendant was using while staying with the victim’s family. The victim and her father testified that Hogg lived with them most of July 2015. The girl could not give specific dates in July when the assaults occurred.

Hogg, who denied the allegations, said he “absolutely” never touched the girl or had sexual relations with her, told the jury he only realized when jury selection was scheduled for March that he was not living at the home until September 2015.

Trooper Eric Porpiglia was lead investigator and testified that when he spoke with Hogg about the pending charges in May 2016, he said Hogg agreed that he lived with the family in July 2015.

Defense

Hogg presented three witnesses who said he lived at the residence of the victim during September 2015, not during July.

Levy also presented a witness, who only came forward the day after the trial began, Rita Wetzel. Her testimony was that she became close friends with the victim while meeting her at a school bus stop and claimed the girl gave four different versions of what occurred.

However, the victim was recalled as a rebuttal witness and denied ever telling Wetzel about the details of the assaults.

Hogg, who continues to deny his guilt and claims the victim and her father did not tell the truth at trial, has a right to appeal Serfass’ decision to the state Superior Court, which he is expected to do.

Hogg is currently an inmate at the state prison in Houtzdale, Clearfield County.