Vincent Normen Cropper leaves the Luzerne County Courthouse on Friday after he pled guilty to sexually assaulting three girls in Hazleton. Cropper previously pled guilty to sexually assaulting a fourth girl.
Ed Lewis | Times Leader
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — A Hazleton man could face lifetime registration as a sex offender after he pled guilty Friday to sexually assaulting three girls.
Vincent Normen Cropper, 31, last known address as West Fourth Street, said he had “no choice” when he entered a plea agreement with prosecutors. Cropper previously pled guilty to raping a woman, according to court records.
Hazleton police initially arrested Cropper on March 5, 2020, on allegations he sexually assaulted a then 15-year-old girl in 2016.
Publicity surrounding Cropper’s arrest resulted in two girls and a woman reporting he sexually assaulted them.
In all four cases, Cropper physically assaulted by grabbing the females by their hair and necks when he sexually assaulted them, according to court records.
In one case, a girl went to Cropper’s residence to buy “weed,” and was taken to the basement where she was allegedly held down by Angel Lopez, 26, of Hazleton Apartments, Hazle Township, and sexually assaulted by Cropper, court records say.
Police in court records alleged Cropper was hired by a woman to do odd jobs around her house. Cropper entered the woman’s house as she slept and sexually assaulted her before fleeing the home on a bicycle, police stated in court records.
During Friday’s proceeding, Cropper pled guilty to two counts of statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors, and a single count of indecent assault involving three girls. Many felony rape and other sexual offenses were withdrawn.
Cropper on May 13, 2021, pled guilty to rape, burglary and criminal attempt to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse involving the woman.
President Judge Michael T. Vough accepted the plea agreements that were entered Friday.
Vough ordered an evaluation of Cropper by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Assessment Board. Cropper is scheduled to be sentenced July 6. He remains jailed at the county correctional facility.
As for Lopez, he is facing charges of criminal conspiracy to commit rape, criminal conspiracy to commit statutory sexual assault, criminal conspiracy to commit sexual assault, statutory sexual assault and sexual assault in county court. Lopez’s next court appearance is May 5 before Vough.
Assistant District Attorney Shana Messinger prosecuted.