A Palmerton man was sentenced to a state prison term on Monday on charges he sexually assaulted a young girl multiple times, starting when she was 15.

Judge Joseph J. Matika sentenced Abraham Campos, 42, to serve two to five years in a state correctional institution, followed by five years of state probation.

Campos previously pleaded guilty to one count of statutory sexual assault - 11 years or older, a felony 1. 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.

For those charges he was sentenced to serve one to two years in a state prison, concurrent with the first set of charges.

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 girl 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 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.

Defense attorney Brett J. Riegel said his client admitted to the allegations. He quoted from a presentence investigation report prepared by the adult probation office his client as saying, “I should not have done this.”

Riegel said the victim, now 20, said the sexual encounters were consensual.

Campos told the court, “Truth is, I held myself accountable for my actions.” He said he realizes he must be punished but asked for “leniency.”

Assistant District Attorney Brian B. Gazo, who prosecuted the case, said he and Riegel spent a lot of time negotiating a plea agreement.

Gazo said he was troubled by some of the statements made in the presentence report by the defendant, most notably, that he was also a victim. Gazo said Campos was not a victim, that he had relations with a then 15-year-old girl when he was 38.

He said the court had to send a message that “we will not tolerate a 38-year-old to prey on a 15-year-old.”

The father of the victim asked the court to issue the maximum sentence allowed. He said his daughter has been getting counseling since the case was brought to the attention of authorities.

He also said the defendant posted a picture of himself in bed with his daughter. Riegel, however, argued that the photo was not distributed to social media, only on Campos’ camera.

The victim was present in the courtroom but chose not to speak.

Matika also said some statements made by the defendant in the presentence investigation report were troubling to him.

Referring to a statement in the PSI report in which Campos said he was no monster, Matika said, “A 38-year-old doesn’t have sex with a 15-year-old. That is a monster.”

In addition to the jail term, Campos was ordered to render 100 hours of community service when paroled, submit to a sexual offenders evaluation, have no contact with the victim, have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18, supply a DNA sample, follow all registration requirements of Megan’s Law, including registering as a sexual offender for the next 25 years, and pay court costs of over $1,000.

An evaluation by the state sexual offenders assessment board determined Campos was not a violent sexual offender.

He was given credit for two days already served and began the prison term immediately.