A Lehighton man has been charged with raping his neighbor.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by officer Jared Green of the Franklin Township Police Department in the case against Thomas Rehl Jr:

At 2:34 p.m. Thursday, Green received a phone call from a woman who said she has been raped by her neighbor, Rehl, 54, who was high on methamphetamine at the time.

The victim requested an officer to come to her home in the 300 block of Long Run Road.

The woman told Green that Rehl had raped her after she tried to leave his residence.

The victim said she had gone to Rehl’s residence to ask him a question about her children, and after not receiving a straight answer from Rehl, she attempted to leave but Rehl stopped her.

The victim was sent to St. Luke’s Carbon Campus, where a rape kit was being collected.

Rehl faces charges of rape forcible compulsion; sexual assault; indecent assault without consent of another; simple assault; false imprisonment; and harassment.

He is currently incarcerated in the Carbon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $100,000, 10% monetary bail, and scheduled to have a preliminary hearing Dec. 29 before District Judge William J. Kissner of Palmerton.