Jury unable to reach verdict on indecent assault and indecent exposure, retrial on those two charges in September
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WILKES-BARRE — A Luzerne County jury deliberated for nearly five hours Thursday finding a Virginia man not guilty of raping a child in Hazleton.
Matthew Sokoloff, 29, of Bedford, was charged by state police at Hazleton in June 2019, on allegations he sexually assaulted a boy between November 2007 and October 2009, according to court records.
The charges were filed after the boy was interviewed in March 2019.
Court records say the sexual assaults occurred inside a residence near Stockton Mountain Road in Hazle Township.
Sokoloff’s trial before President Judge Michael T. Vough began Monday and ended Thursday when the jury acquitted him on charges of rape of a child, aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault, criminal attempt to commit indecent assault and two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.
The jury was not able to reach a verdict on charges of indecent assault and indecent exposure.
Sokoloff is scheduled for a trial in September on those two charges. He remains free on $10,000 unsecured bail.
Attorney David Scott Nenner of Philadelphia represented Sokoloff.