Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — A Hazle Township man who admitted to injuring a crying infant and forcing a teen girl to have sex was sentenced Wednesday in Luzerne County Court.
Judge Michael T. Vough sentenced Richard Daniel Yost, 23, of Cross Street, to three to six years in state prison on charges of aggravated assault and statutory sexual assault.
Yost pleaded guilty to the separate offenses earlier this year.
According to court records:
Yost was first arrested by state police in June 2016 on allegations by a then 15-year-old girl who claimed he forced her to have sex inside a residence in Black Creek Township.
The girl told police she told Yost “no” several times but she gave up because she felt she had no other choice, court records say.
In the other incident, state police investigated a child abuse claim when an infant covered in blood, four broken ribs and facial injuries was treated at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Plains Township, on April 12.
Yost initially denied he injured the infant but later admitted he aggressively picked up the infant from a crib because the baby had been crying for 10 to 15 minutes. He also claimed he dropped the infant when he tripped over a dog causing the infant to strike her head, court records say.
When Yost pleaded guilty to the charges, prosecutors withdrew counts of aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children, false identification to law enforcement, reckless endangerment and simple assault.