A former Palmerton resident was sentenced to a county prison term on Tuesday afternoon in Carbon County court on sexual assault charges.

Donavin Christman, 19, of Catasauqua, was sentenced to serve one day less 12 to one day less 24 months in prison on a charge of statutory sexual assault, a felony 2, and three to one day less 24 months in prison on a charge of indecent assault of a person less than 16, a misdemeanor 2. The prison terms will be followed by 48 months of probation. The terms run concurrently, per a plea agreement with the district attorney’s office. He previously pleaded guilty to the charges.

Christman was arrested by Palmerton police on July 24, 2020, after police received a report on June 6, 2020, from the mother of a then 13-year-old girl.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Detective Kevin Buck of the borough police, he spoke with the victim, who said that in March she began speaking with the defendant and said that within the first 24 hours she advised him that she was 13 and he had told her he was 18.

The victim advised they had spoken for some time on both Snapchat as well as phone calls and in the beginning of April, Christman would begin showing up at her residence when her mother was not at home and they would be in the backyard together.

The victim said Christman had kissed her in late April and referenced several times about their ages, stating that he could get caught and get in trouble, as well as telling her after they had intercourse that the victim could not tell anyone because he could go to jail.

The victim said the two had relations from late April through early June, with these occurrences beginning after Christman began convincing her to sneak out of her house. The victim said that when she would sneak out, Christman would pick her up and they would drive back to Palmerton, where they would sometimes hang out in the park for a while before returning to Christman’s home.

The victim said this occurred between four and eight times.

On June 12 the victim was also interviewed at the Children’s Advocacy Center.

On June 14 Buck spoke with Christman, who said he did not wish to speak about the incident.

In exchange for the plea, the district attorney’s office dropped a count of aggravated sexual assault, a felony 2, and corruption of a minor, a misdemeanor 2.

Defense attorney Joseph Sebelin asked the court to sentence Christman to a county prison term and at the lower end of state sentencing guidelines.

Christman told the court he was sorry for his actions and it would never happen again.

The father of the victim told the court how his daughter has suffered due to what happened to her. She has undergone counseling and continues to struggle with her feelings and emotions. He asked Serfass to take all that into account in imposing a sentence. He also said Christman has never shown any remorse for what he did.

Christman’s prior sentencing proceeding was delayed when the court questioned his responses to the adult probation office in the preparation of a presentence investigation report. It appeared to the court that Christman was denying having sexually assaulted the girl.

On Tuesday, Sebelin said his client admits to the sexual contact and that he felt his client’s statement in the PSI report might have been misinterpreted by the court.

Serfass said a prison term was called for due to the facts of the case and the seriousness of the charges. He did note that Christman has no prior contacts with law enforcement and cooperated with investigators.

In addition to the jail term, Serfass ordered Christman to get a mental health evaluation, submit to a sexual offenders evaluation, follow all registration requirements of Megan’s Law, have no contact with the victim, have no unsupervised contact with minor children, supply a DNA sample, make restitution to the victim’s family for $4,938.81 for counseling fees, pay court costs of over $1,000, pay a $50 per month supervision fee while on parole and probation.

The state sexual offenders assessment board found Christman was not a violent sexual predator.

However, he must register for the next 25 years as a sexual offender.

He began the jail term immediately.