Alleged victim testifies in Youngwood man's trial on rape charges

A 19-year-old woman testified Wednesday she was twice raped by a Youngwood man and his girlfriend, who just two weeks prior had given birth to the couple’s first child.

She told jurors that the baby slept in a nearby bed in the same motel room where Sarah Vrabel quieted her screams as she was raped by Darell Deisean Walker, 23, of Youngwood in mid 2016.

“It happened so quickly I didn’t know what to do. … I told them multiple times to stop,” she testified during the second day of Walker’s rape trial.

Police contend Walker sexually assaulted three underage girls in 2016, including a 13-year-old runaway from Greensburg, a 14-year-old girl he met via social media, and the alleged victim in this case, who was 16.

She claims she was twice attacked by Walker and his girlfriend: once in the back seat of a car and the second time about a week later in a local motel.

The woman told jurors she initially met Walker on social media and once in person when he drove alone to her town to talk. She said Walker returned about a week later with his girlfriend, moved into the back seat of his car and initiated sexual activity against her wishes.

Both Walker and his girlfriend knew she was just 16, their accuser testified.

During her emotional testimony in which she periodically sobbed uncontrollably and later became combative during questioning from defense attorney Tim Dawson, the woman said Walker and Vrabel returned a week later with their baby to apologize, drove her to a motel, gave her marijuana and forced her to again have sex.

Vrabel told jurors she believed the girl was at least 18 and denied forcing her to participate in sex acts.

Vrabel, 22, testified she met Walker in 2015 after she had just turned 18 and had his baby in mid-April 2016. Just days after their daughter was born, Vrabel told jurors Walker started to pressure her to have sex with a third person and told her to make the arrangements.

Vrabel, who also is facing rape charges, denied initiating the sex acts and said she did not hear the woman’s demands for Walker to stop. She said she believed the teen consented to the sexual activity a week later in the motel.

Although the rape charges, which could result in her being sentenced up to 30 years in prison, are still pending, Vrabel testified she has a tentative plea bargain in place in which the most serious counts against her will be dismissed. She said she will plead guilty to lesser charges but did not say what sentence she expected to receive.

The prosecution rested its cases against Walker late Wednesday afternoon.

He is charged with rape, aggravated assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and other offenses in four separate cases, all of which are being tried together before Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani.

Dawson said Walker will testify when the trial reconvenes Thursday morning.