ChildLine report leads to arrest of man accused of repeatedly raping child in Lower Burrell

A Moon Township man was accused of repeatedly raping a child over a five-year period while he was living in Lower Burrell.

Stevan Joseph Mracna, 43, of Bonnie Brae Drive was charged Nov. 16 with felony counts of rape of a child, aggravated indecent assault of a child, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors.

He was released on a $25,000 bond posted by a New Kensington bail agency and ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing Nov. 28 before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec.

Lower Burrell and Westmoreland County police detectives began investigating Mracna in early May after receiving a ChildLine report filed by the child’s school principal.

Investigators said they received copies of handwritten notes Mracna sent to the child and their mother in which he admitted to the assaults and apologized, according to a criminal complaint.

Investigators said the child told them that Mracna started sexually assaulting them when they were 5 years old and that it stopped when they turned 10, the complaint said.

In the notes, Mracna alluded to two incidents involving the child for which he apologized. He said they happened at a time when he stopped attending fellowship sessions to deal with his drinking problem and was consuming large amounts of alcohol, the complaint said.

The child’s mother told the detectives that she was together with the child when they read Mracna’s notes and that the child responded, “That’s not even 1% of what he’s done to me.”

Mracna initially admitted to authorities that he wrote the notes and agreed to meet with detectives to discuss their contents, the complaint said.

But he canceled the meeting the day before it was scheduled, according to the complaint.