Sex charges thrown out against former McKeesport man accused of impregnating teen foster daughter

An Allegheny County judge on Friday threw out sexual assault charges against a man who was accused of years of abuse that led to his 14-year-old foster daughter becoming pregnant in 1993.

Carl Alvin Gilbert, 57, was charged in connection with the case on May 14 — nearly 25 years after the alleged abuse had ended.

On Friday, Common Pleas Judge Bruce Beemer dismissed charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and statutory sexual assault, finding that the statute of limitations to file charges against Gilbert had long since expired.

“The court’s finding should in no way be interpreted as placing any blame on (the victim) for failing to disclose the name of her abuser at an earlier date,” Beemer wrote. “Although (she) stands before this court as an adult, it is not forgotten that at the time she became pregnant she was a child.”

The alleged victim, Carlina Freeman, who asked that her name be used, was upset by Beemer’s decision.

“I felt discouraged,” she said. “I just don’t feel like I’ve been heard. It seems like nobody is listening.”

A criminal complaint filed against Gilbert said Freeman began living with Gilbert and his wife, Matilda Gilbert Omiecinski, who were family friends, when she was 7 or 9 years old after her mom became ill.

She told police that she was first sexually assaulted when she was 9 years old, and that the abuse continued for years. The complaint said Carl Gilbert assaulted her often, and Gilbert Omiecinski did, as well.

She became pregnant in 1993 and had her child in 1994 at age 14.

Freeman said that, at the time, she told her caseworker with Allegheny County Children, Youth and Families that Carl Gilbert had assaulted her, but no action was ever taken by the agency.

She said she became emancipated at age 17 and filed for child support against Carl Gilbert in 1998 in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, court records show.

A paternity test was ordered, and, according to the court docket, the test results showed Gilbert was the father.

He was ordered by Judge Kathleen Mulligan on April 29, 1999, to pay $400 per month in child support.

Freeman said that, at the time, Mulligan never suggested that there could be a criminal referral based on her age at the time the child was conceived.

“Nobody ever looked at the age difference,” Freeman said.

Carl Gilbert was 29 years old at the time the child was born.

Freeman, who is now 42, said she contacted CYF when she was 18 to report what Gilbert had done, but officials told her there was nothing they could do because she was already emancipated.

She said she also contacted McKeesport police, where she lived at the time, and they told her there was nothing they could do because she was already of age. They suggested that she get an attorney.

A spokesman for CYF said they had no comment.

Freeman said that throughout her life, what happened weighed on her, leading to issues of trust and anxiety. She told her story to Tribune-Review news partner WPXI last year. A report on the incident led to Allegheny County Police filing charges against Gilbert, who was living in New England at the time of his arrest.

“I don’t think anybody understands the toll it takes on the person,” she said. “He ruined my life.”

In the motion to dismiss the charges, Gilbert’s defense attorney did not address the substance of the allegations against him.

Instead, she focused on the statute of limitations in sexual assault cases.

Although the time frame for filing charges has expanded over the years, at the time Freeman was assaulted, charges could only be filed for a maximum of five years after a victim’s 18th birthday.

In this case, the defense said, that meant charges were required to be filed by the summer of 2002.

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office argued that the statute of limitations was amended repeatedly between when Freeman was assaulted and when the DNA test results returned showing Gilbert to be the father.

Based on those changes, the prosecution claimed that charges were appropriate up until the victim’s 50th birthday.

Beemer rejected that argument.

He found that the statute of limitations in effect at the time of the last possible assault on Freeman was five years after she turned 18, or 2002.

“The number of failures perpetrated upon (Freeman) defies common understanding and is beyond comprehension,” Beemer wrote.

The history of the case, he continued, “demonstrates an appalling lack of oversight by the very agencies in charge of protecting against abuse.”

Mike Manko, a spokesman for the DA’s office, said they would not appeal.

“The legislature has tried hard to address these types of situations knowing full well that predators frequently pick their victims understanding that they are vulnerable,” Manko said.

“In doing so, the legislature recognizes that victims of sexual assault, especially children, often have trouble communicating their victimization at the time and may not do so until long after the fact,” he added. “While we respectfully disagree with the conclusions by the judge, we also realize that we would not be able to overcome those conclusions on appeal.”

Freeman, who described herself as a spiritual person, is not sure where that leaves her.

“God has the last word, but what about me? Because he ruined me,” she said. “Inside, I still feel like it happened yesterday.”