Teen's mom pleads with judge to protect community from sex offender

The mother of an Arnold girl pleaded with a Westmoreland County judge to protect the public from a man she said she fears would sexually assault another child.

“It is your place to make sure he takes those (sex offender) classes so he never does this again. If he doesn’t, he will do that again, and I don’t want it on my conscience,” said the mother of a then-12-year-old victim who was subject to sexual advances from Tyrone E. Jennings of Pittsburgh.

Jennings, 58, was sentenced Monday to serve up to 23 months in jail. He pleaded guilty in February to felony counts of corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor. Police said Jennings exposed himself and made sexual advances to the girl. Jennings told investigators he was drunk.

According to court records, Jennings was arrested more than two years after he was charged in connection to his accuser’s allegations. After his guilty plea this year, he was released on a recognizance bond and did not appear for his sentencing hearing scheduled in May.

He served about four months in jail before his guilty plea and two months after his bond was revoked in late May after he was detained on a bench warrant.

As part of the negotiated plea deal, prosecutors dismissed one misdemeanor count of indecent exposure and signed off on a sentence that included no additional jail time.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears ordered Jennings to complete sex offender treatment and to register as a convicted sex offender for 25 years. Jennings is barred from having any contact with children during his parole period.

“I am required to hear these kind of cases more than I’d like, and these are disgusting cases,” Mears said. “You can take pride as a mom that, when this happened, she reported what happened. You should take pride in the fact you taught her to do that.”