A Ferguson Township man was arrested Wednesday on charges accusing him of rape and other sexual abuse of a teenage girl over a two-year period.
Victor N. Acevedo-Gerena, 36, had 275 text messages, photos and videos on his phone the corroborated the girl’s report during an interview at the Centre County Child Advocacy Center earlier this month, a township detective wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
The girl told investigators that beginning in 2021, when she was 15, Acevedo-Gerena got “touchy” with her, groping her and claiming he was practicing to become a masseuse, according to the affidavit.
She detailed how Acevedo-Gerena would send her messages referring to sexual acts as “massages,” and how the abuse escalated to rape and other violent sexual assaults, police wrote. Acevedo-Gerena coerced the girl with money and threats, including telling her that he would make public images he recorded of her and that he told her to send him if she did not comply with his demands, according to the affidavit.
When confronted by a relative who discovered sexual messages from Acevedo-Gerena, he allegedly stole the girl’s phone and fled.
In an interview with police, Acevedo-Gerena denied having intercourse with the girl, but admitted to having more than a dozen sexual encounters with her and taking videos and photos of her, according to the affidavit. He told police the encounters occurred when the girl was 17.
The text messages and images found on Acevedo-Gerena’s phone were all moved to a trash folder for deletion at the same time after he was confronted by the relative and before he was interviewed by a detective, according to the affidavit.
Acevedo-Gerena was charged on Wednesday with 48 felony counts for charges including rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault, photographing and filming a child engaged in sexual acts and intercepting communications, as well as one misdemeanor count of indecent assault.
He was arraigned by District Judge Allen Sinclair, who denied bail. Acevedo-Gerena is detained at the Centre County Correctional Facility.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 3.
Acevedo-Gerena was separately charged earlier this week with robbery, theft, tampering with evidence, attempted assault, harassment and criminal mischief.
