A Lawrence County man has been charged with felony counts of indecent contact with a minor and indecent assault of a person under the age of 13 for an incident that happened in Kittanning about a decade ago, according to authorities.
An arrest warrant was issued for Charles James Airgood III, 31, of New Wilmington on Oct. 28. He was taken into custody the next day by state troopers in Mercer County and transported to the Armstrong County Jail, according to borough police.
He has been a registered sex offender since 2017, following a 2013 case in Mercer County.
Airgood is being detained at the jail after failing to post a $50,000 cash bond, court records show. A preliminary hearing on the charges has not yet been scheduled.
Investigators say that on Sept. 9, the victim and members of her family went to the Kittanning Police Department to report that Airgood sexually assaulted the girl in her home “between the years 2011-2012” when she was 13 years old, according to a criminal complaint filed in support of the charges.
Family members said the girl frequently stayed overnight at her aunt’s home in Kittanning. On one of those occasions, Airgood, who was the aunt’s boyfriend, was the “supervising adult” and became “infuriated” when the girl did not eat her vegetables during dinner.
Airgood is accused of forcing his fingers down the girl’s throat and saying “you’re a good girl” before sexually assaulting her, according to investigators.
He then told the girl that if she talked about the incident, he would “make sure she could not breathe the next time,” the complaint said.
Court records show that in December 2017 in Mercer County, Airgood pleaded guilty to a felony count of corruption of a minor in a 2013 case. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for 15 years.
Airgood did not have an attorney listed in court records.
