A Pennsylvania appeals court Wednesday denied bail for a 54-year-old Israeli citizen in the Allegheny County Jail awaiting sentencing for a 2004 sexual assault involving a 15-year-old girl in Dormont.
Moshe Journo, formerly of Beechview, was to be sentenced in March on the charges, which he pleaded guilty to in December.
But the covid-19 pandemic has suspended court operations. Journo, who will be 55 in May , is at greater risk to contract covid-19 because he of his age and preexisting conditions, his attorney, Joseph Hudak, of Pittsburgh, wrote in an appeal filed with state Superior Court.
Journo has asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure, each of which are factors that put him at higher risk of having averse reactions if he’s exposed to coronavirus, Hudak wrote in the appeal.
As of Wednesday, four jail inmates have been diagnosed with covid-19 and three tests are pending, according to the Allegheny County Health Department.
In 2004, Journo fled to Israel before a preliminary hearing could be held in the case. He was extradited to Pittsburgh in February 2019.
He now may withdraw his guilty plea, Hudak said in court filings.
Journo is accused of attacking the girl in a room used for tanning at his Dormont business. He commented on the girl’s tan and then offered her use of a tanning bed adjacent to his then-business, Mo Wear, on Potomac Avenue, police said.
The girl visited the business with another friend who was not assaulted. The girls told their parents about the assault. The parents contacted Dormont police.
Hudak has not decided whether to appeal the decision, he said.
