Jury: Ligonier psychologist Monsour not guilty of molestation claims
A Ligonier psychologist was found not guilty Wednesday of charges that he molested a young girl.
Dr. Roy C. Monsour, 65, declined to comment as he left the courtroom after his acquittal.
A jury of six men and six women deliberated just more than an hour before finding Monsour not guilty of felony counts of indecent assault against a child younger than 13, child endangerment and corruption of minors.
Monsour denied the allegations leveled against him by a now 14-year-old girl who claimed the doctor had improper sexual contact with her multiple times over a five-year period that ended in 2014.
“It was the correct verdict,” defense attorney Pat Thomassey said.
Thomassey said Monsour will attempt to have his medical license reinstated. The state medical board suspended Monsour’s licence to practice in late 2017, shortly after the criminal charges were filed.
Monsour, the son of one of four brothers who founded the now-defunct Monsour Medical Center in Jeannette, worked as a geriatric psychologist.
During the two-day trial, Monsour claimed the child lied and contended his accuser had personal reasons for concocting the allegations. The Tribune-Review does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
“Do you really believe he would molest in the way that was described?” Thomassey said in his closing argument to the jury. “It’s uncorroborated evidence and the girl said it happened, so it happened.”
Thomassey at the start of the trial told jurors that it has become too easy for prosecutors to seek convictions in sexual assault cases based only on an accuser’s testimony. Prosecutors presented no physical evidence to support the girl’s accusations.
Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Calisti said Monsour’s accuser had no reason to make up the allegations and that she only came forward when she confided to a classmate after attending a school presentation in 2017 about sexual assault.
She argued that jurors should ignore the defense contention that other, personal issues led to fabricated accusations.
“A woman and a child can say no. They have a right to say no,” Calisti said.
Rich Cholodofsky is a TribLive reporter covering Westmoreland County government, politics and courts. He can be reached at rcholodofsky@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.