Garnett
Richard Garnett walks at the Pennsylvania State Police barracks, Troop P, at Wilkes-Barre on March 30, 2021.
Ed Lewis | Times Leader file photo
A Hunlock Township man was convicted by a Luzerne County jury on Thursday of sexually assaulting a boy while he worked as a games director at Roaring Brook Baptist Church.
Richard Garnett, 73, of Roaring Brook Drive, was convicted on charges of statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, child endangerment, and corruption of minors following a four-day trial before Court of Common Pleas Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr.
The jury deliberated nearly five hours before reaching its verdict.
Garnett, who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two girls in the early 1980s and is serving a four-to-10 year state prison sentence, was arrested by the Pennsylvania State Police at Wilkes-Barre, Troop P, in March 2021, on allegations he sexually assaulted the boy in the basement of the church.
State police investigators served a search warrant at the church on Roaring Brook Drive, Hunlock Township, on Dec. 6, 2017, seizing computers and documents listing attendance records of students and teachers. The search warrant was based on a complaint by the male victim who claimed he was sexually assaulted at least three times by Garnett inside the church.
At the time of the assaults, the victim was in first- and second-grades while investigators say the assaults took place in the early 2000s, according to court records.
Pennsylvania Chief Deputy Attorney General Angela Sperrazza and Deputy Attorney General Mamie Phillips prosecuted.
Garnett remains jailed and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 21.
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