A Unity man was ordered to serve up to 23 months in jail in connection with sexual assaults against a teenager that prosecutors contend occurred over a seven-year period.
Clarence J. Wallace, 74, pleaded guilty to felony charges of indecent assault of a child and corruption of minors as part of a deal with prosecutors. Other charges including multiple counts of rape and other sexual offenses were dismissed.
“The commonwealth’s plea agreement with Clarence Wallace was developed in direct consultation with the victim and her family. The defendant’s plea was a swift acknowledgement of guilt which resulted in his immediate incarceration and the requirement that he register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life,” said District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli in a statement.
Wallace was accused of having sexual contact with his victim multiple times in various locations in and around Unity, including in parked Jeep and on a blanket in a field, according to court records. His accuser reported the allegations in May 2022 and claimed she was 8 when the sexual assaults started and continued until she was 14.
Police said DNA evidence linked Wallace to the sexual assaults.
His accuser, now a college student with aspirations to be a nurse, in a statement read in court by her mother, decried Wallace’s initial denials and doubts raised against her by his family members.
“I believe in your own sick mind (you thought) I would never mature enough to say what happened. You can’t humiliate me any more. DNA doesn’t lie. You are a child predator and will be treated as such,” the victim wrote.
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger sentenced Wallace to serve at least 11 1/2 months in jail and an additional seven years on probation. A condition of the sentence includes a lifetime requirement that Wallace register as a convicted sex offender.
Wallace had been free since he posted $100,000 bail in May was handcuffed following Wednesday’s hearing and ordered to begin serving his jail sentence.
Wallace did not speak during the hearing.
His wife and daughter testified they continue to believe in Wallace’s innocence.
“I refuse to ever believe any of the allegations,” said wife, Bernadette Wallace.
Daughter Christina Schantz, 44, told the judge she will fight to clear her father’s name.
“He raised me and my sister and there was never a sliver of impropriety. I unequivocally believe this is not true and did not happen,” Schantz testified.
The district attorney dismissed the objections from the Wallace family.
“Wallace’s plea also represents his own recognition that he committed acts his family has trouble coming to terms with,” Ziccarelli said.
