Allegheny Township man charged with 5 sexual assaults seeks house arrest

An Allegheny Township man charged with sexually assaulting three juveniles and two adults wants a Westmoreland County judge to release him to house arrest while he awaits trial.

Police contend Eric Alan Wright, 49, raped two children over a 20-year period dating to 2000, fondled another teenage girl, exposed himself to a 50-year-old woman at her Vandergrift home and, in 2018, raped a woman in her residence.

“Mr. Wright has no prior criminal record and strongly denies the allegations lodged against him,” defense attorney William Difenderfer wrote in court documents filed Monday.

Wright was jailed in January 2020 after police initially charged him with rape and sexual assault against two teens. In the following days, police filed additional charges related to allegations he sexually assaulted another juvenile and another adult. He is being held in the Westmoreland County Prison in lieu of five separate bonds totalling more than $1.1 million.

Difenderfer contends Wright worked as a United Parcel Service delivery person before January 2019, when he was attacked by a dog while on the job. He currently suffers from severe psoriasis that causes open sores on his body and requires medication and sanitation that the jail cannot provide. As a result, he is at a high risk of contracting covid-19, according to court documents.

The defense asked that West­moreland County Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio place Wright on nominal bond and release him to house arrest, where he will live with his mother in Leechburg. The judge has not yet scheduled a hearing to consider Wright’s request to modify his bonds.

Wright’s trial is tentatively scheduled to begin this month, but Difenderfer in his filing said it was more likely a trial won’t begin until at least June.