Tarentum man accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting young child ordered to stand trial

A district judge has ordered a Tarentum man to stand trial on charges that he has been sexually assaulting a young child repeatedly since early this year.

Allegheny County Police arrested Brian Lee Jefferies, 26, of Roup Street in late April.

He was charged with two counts of aggravated indecent assault along with counts of unlawful contact with a minor, indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors.

All are felonies. He also faces two misdemeanor counts of indecent assault and a count of indecent exposure.

Jefferies was detained in the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh in lieu of a $250,000 cash bond following his arrest.

On Wednesday, he waived his right to a preliminary hearing before District Judge Carolyn Bengel, who ordered him to stand trial on the charges, according to court records. Formal arraignment in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court is scheduled for June 15.

His bail was reduced to a $25,000 cash bond during the court hearing. Jefferies was unable to post the lower bond amount and was still in jail as of Thursday afternoon, the court docket shows.

A county detective wrote in a criminal complaint that he observed a forensic interview done with the child April 21 at UPMC Mercy hospital’s A Child’s Place advocacy center. The young child told investigators they knew the difference between the truth and a lie and promised not to lie during the interview.

Police said the child told the interviewer that they were sexually assaulted the night before by Jefferies. They said the assaults began in January and happened multiple times, the complaint said.

The child told investigators that Jefferies also recently made a video of them while they were naked using his cellphone and “was laughing about it,” the complaint said.