Latrobe man accused of indecently assaulting Adelphoi runaway

Police filed indecent assault charges against a Latrobe man accused of helping a 17-year-old run away from an Adelphoi Village group home.

Eric L. Mallin, 50, and his wife, Michele L. Mallin, 48, were charged with corruption of minors after police say they helped the girl when she left the Derry Township facility in September.

The girl recently told state police that while in the couple’s home, she was groped and propositioned for sex by Eric Mallin, Trooper Paige Shreffler reported in court documents.

Shreffler said the girl ran away from the group home on Sept. 25 and encountered Michele Mallin at a convenience store on Route 982 in Latrobe. The girl asked for help, and Mallin drove her to their home, Shreffler said in court documents.

While at the Mallin home, Eric Mallin cut the girl’s hair “so she couldn’t be recognized,” according to the criminal complaint.

Police say the Mallins drove the girl to the Greyhound bus depot at nearby Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity, where the girl’s friend from Georgia had provided her a prepaid ticket. The bus was expected to depart about midnight Sept. 27.

The state police investigation began Sept. 26 after the girl had second thoughts and returned to Adelphoi, where she was required to stay via court order.

Troopers were able to identify the Mallins by their car license plate number, which they obtained through the airport’s security video.

Eric Mallin has a hearing Feb. 8. His private attorney, Brian Aston of Greensburg, declined comment.

Adelphoi, started in 1971 as a group home for troubled boys, now provides services to more than 2,500 abused, neglected, delinquent and other at-risk youths and their families from a 30-county area.