A Palmerton man admitted in Carbon County court on Thursday to sexual assaulting a young girl and posting sexually explicit photos of the girl.

Abraham Campos, 42, pleaded to one count of statutory sexual assault - 11 years or older, a felony 1, before Judge Joseph J. Matika. In exchange for the plea, felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse - person less than 16 years of age; aggravated indecent assault, corruption of minors; and a misdemeanor count of indecent assault, person less than 16 were dropped.

In a second case, involving the same victim, he pleaded to one count each of photograph/film/depict on computer sex act - knowingly or permitting child, a felony 2; and corruption of a minor, defendant 18 or above, a felony 3. In that case, he was originally charged with nine counts including aggravated indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor along with additional counts of photograph, indecent assault and corruption counts.

Case history

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Detective Kevin Buck of the Palmerton police:

On Jan. 21, 2020, a 17-year-old female reported that since December 2018 she has been having sex with a man identified as Abraham Campos. The victim said that for the last 12 months Campos had been having sex with her when her mother was not home.

She said Campos told her this was something they could not talk about to other people and that in exchange for this, he would protect her and defend her when she would get in trouble. The victim said this happened with Campos more than 10 times in the past 12 months and that he used protection only once. She said he supplied her with the morning after pill.

She said he sent her sexually explicit photos.

The victim’s mother said she confronted Campos about the found pictures and the sexual assault of her daughter. She said Campos attempted to justify his actions before finally admitting he knew what he did was wrong and departed the home to an unknown location.

Campos was originally incarcerated on the charges, but has since posted bail.

Matika told Campos, under state sentencing guidelines, on the statutory sexual assault count he faces a minimum prison term of somewhere between 12 and 24 months up to 240 months followed by three years of state probation.

Matika accepted the pleas but deferred sentencing since the charges fall under the provisions of Megan’s Law.

Campos will be evaluated by the state sexual offenders assessment board to determine if he is a violent sexual predator. Matika also ordered the adult probation office to prepare a presentence investigation report.

Sentencing was scheduled for May 16 at 9 a.m.