Apollo man charged with raping woman sheltering with him after PFA order against her husband

Apollo police arrested a borough man on charges he raped a woman staying at his house with her daughter after she split with her husband.

Joshua Allen Gibbon, 20, of Woodward Avenue, was arrested on Oct. 30. The police acted after the accuser provided them with a detailed layout of his bedroom as well as personal items of hers that he previously had in his possession, according to a criminal complaint filed in support of the charges.

Police said Gibbon admitted during an interview with investigators that he had sex with the woman, but told them it was initiated by her, the complaint said.

The investigation began after the 18-year-old accuser placed a note in the police department’s mail bin saying Gibbon raped her at his house on Oct. 13, the day after she obtained a protection from abuse order against her husband, according to the complaint.

Gibbon was charged with six felonies — two counts of rape, three counts of aggravated indecent assault and one count of sexual assault. He also was charged with two misdemeanor counts of indecent assault and one count each of unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and theft.

He is being detained in the Armstrong County Jail after failing to post a $50,000 cash bond, according to court records. Gibbons faces a preliminary hearing on the charges before District Judge James Andring on Nov. 10.

When the woman was interviewed by police, she provided them with the clothing she wore the night she said she was raped so the items could be checked for DNA evidence, police said. The complaint did not say whether those tests have been completed.

The woman said she also went to a hospital emergency room to be examined after speaking with police by telephone on Oct. 20, but was told that a rape kit could not be produced because too much time had passed since the act occurred, the complaint said.

The woman told police she and Gibbon attended Kiski Area High School together and that he contacted her to say she could stay with him. She said she spent the night at his home because she had nowhere else to go.

She told police that she and Gibbon watched TV for several hours while her daughter was sleeping upstairs in his bedroom. Gibbon agreed to sleep on the sofa, she said, while she and her daughter used his room.

The woman said Gibbon followed her to the bedroom when she went to check on the child.

While inside the room, Gibbon said he wanted to have sex with her but she refused several times until he threatened her and her daughter, police said.

She said feared for her and her daughter’s safety, so she “quit resisting and let him do what he wanted to do” because there was a large knife on the dresser near the bed, the complaint said.

The woman told police that Gibbon raped her several times. The following morning Gibbon “acted like nothing happened” and told her not to tell anybody about the incident. After she left, he began texting her to apologize, according to the complaint.

The accuser told police that she had not been in Gibbon’s bedroom prior to that night but was able to provide them with a detailed description of the room and its contents, including several pair of panties that she said he took from her.

Police obtained a search warrant and confiscated bedding that “showed positive for bodily fluids,” according to the complaint.

A large knife also was found on a dresser near the bed.

Police said they interviewed Gibbon after informing him of his right not to speak with them.

But he provided them with a written statement admitting to having sex with the woman, but said she initiated the contact, according to the complaint.

Gibbon does not have an attorney listed in court records.