New Kensington police have charged a man with engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior with three sisters ages 11, 13 and 14 during a five-month period.

Lawrence William Barber, 66, of Parkview Drive in New Kensington was charged with five felonies — three counts of endangering the welfare of children and two of corruption of minors. He also faces five lesser charges of indecent assault and indecent exposure in connection with the incidents that occurred between May and September, according to a criminal complaint.

The girls’ father alerted police when he learned about the assaults from his daughters, the complaint said.

The charges filed against Barber were recommended by a Westmoreland County assistant district attorney who reviewed the case, according to the complaint.

Barber was released from custody on a $40,000 unsecured bond. He faces a Dec. 23 preliminary hearing on the charges before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. Barber does not have an attorney listed in court records.

Police said Barber was a friend of the family and that he sexually assaulted the girls when they visited him several times a week during the summer.

The girls were interviewed by a New Kensington detective sergeant and then underwent separate forensic interviews Oct. 20 at A Child’s Place children’s advocacy center, police said.

The girls said Barber frequently talked about sex while they were together and made sexually derogatory comments about them in front of others when he took them out to fast-food restaurants or shopping.

The three girls told investigators that on one of those occasions, they were in his truck at a restaurant drive-thru when he forced the eldest girl’s head into his lap and simulated a sex act, the complaint said.

The girls told police that Barber regularly commented on their bodies and told the two older girls that he wanted to have sex with them but that their youngest sister was “way too young.”

The two older girls said Barber regularly made vulgar gestures toward them and touched their privates over their clothing.

They said he also frequently pressed against them and simulated intercourse, the complaint said.

He also is accused of exposing himself to all three girls a number of times while showering, bathing or in his hot tub, the complaint said.

In one incident, Barber was wearing only a towel after a shower and stood above the oldest girl while she was lying on the floor so she could see his genitals, police said.

The oldest girl said she awoke on one occasion while they were sleeping over his house and found him taking revealing photographs of her.

The middle sister told investigators that Barber told her he carried a gun and that if “anyone accuses him of anything he would put a cap in their butt,” the complaint said.

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