Greensburg man found guilty of child rape

Prosecutors said a Greensburg man faces up to 372 years in prison after he was convicted Friday of the rape of a 5-year-old child and recording videos he took of a woman engaged in sex acts with the boy.

Westmoreland County jurors deliberated just more than two hours before returning 22 guilty verdicts against Charles Jason Hunter on counts of rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and child pornography offenses.

Hunter, 35, was charged as both a participant and an accomplice with a Greensburg woman. The jury found him not guilty of four sexual abuse charges for sending the video to others.

“The perpetrator of these heinous crimes should never walk our streets again and our office will seek the maximum sentence. Our children are our most precious gifts, and we will pursue justice for them to the fullest extent of the law,” said District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli.

The videos were not shown to jurors during the three-day trial.

Hunter was charged in 2018 after his mother gave police a copy of the video, which she received from his then girlfriend.

Corby Jo Kinzey, 28, of Greensburg told jurors Hunter took four videos of her engaged in sex acts with the boy. Hunter repeatedly requested she have sex with the child and was an active participant with both her and the boy several times, she claimed.

Kinzey is in jail as she awaits trial on similar charges.

Assistant District Attorney James Lazar, during his questioning of Kinzey during the trial, said prosecutors will not offer her a plea deal and will ask she also receive a maximum prison sentence.

During his closing argument to the jury, Lazar expressed contempt for Kinzey while also casting Hunter as the man who directed her actions and later attempted to cover-up the sex crimes after he learned the video had been discovered.

“She was polluted and corrupted by Charles Jason Hunter,” Lazar said.

Hunter did not testify during the trial.

Defense lawyer Doug Sepic asked jurors to find Hunter not guilty. He argued Kinzey’s testimony was not credible and that she blamed Hunter for her crimes in an effort to receive leniency from the judge if she is ultimately convicted.

“She will come in here and plead and beg the judge for a break because she assisted the commonwealth. That alone should create some doubt in your mind whether she is telling the truth,” Sepic said.

Hunter will be sentenced in about three months by Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani.

Kinzey’s case has not been scheduled for trial.

Amanda Smith, 32, of Greensburg, Hunter’s former girlfriend who initially received the video, is charged with two counts of dissemination of child pornography. Her case is still pending.