Former Curwensville man pleads guilty to sexual assault case – GantNews.com

CLEARFIELD – A former Curwensville man accused of sexually abusing a young girl pleaded guilty Friday before Judge Paul E. Cherry.

According to police, 38-year-old Mark Allen Juart, who is currently in a state prison, abused an eight or nine-year-old girl while living in Curwensville.

Juart was sentenced to 30 months to six years in state prison with an additional six years of probation on two counts of sexual assault and one count of enticement of a minor, according to a court employee.

Juart was found to be a sexually violent offender and must register with the authorities for the rest of his life.

After the girl’s mother reported the abuse to authorities, the victim was interviewed at the Clearfield County Child Advocacy Center in September 2022, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The girl explained that Juart repeatedly “tried to touch me down there” and tried to persuade her to perform sexual acts on him on several occasions. He warned her not to tell her mother.

It wasn’t until years later that she mentioned it to others when she filled out a form about sex on social media.

She then told her cousin, who told her mother. Her aunt told the girl’s mother, who reported it.

In February 2023, Juart was questioned about the allegations. He denied the crimes, but could not explain how the girl could describe his genitals and the details of the encounters.

He agreed to undergo a lie detector test, which reportedly revealed that he lied about his contact with the victim.

Around this time, an Indiana woman reported that Juart had also abused her daughter in a similar manner. In that case, charges of indecent assault and harassment were filed and a warrant was issued for his arrest in April 2023.

This attack took place between January 2022 and March 19, 2023 in a house in White Township, the report said.

This witness later told investigators that Juart admitted to her that he had “done everything” the first victim had claimed.

In August 2023, troopers found Juart in a truck in Armstrong County. He used the name “Michael Herbert,” according to a state police news release. He was taken into custody and transported to the Indiana County Jail.

Investigators say he confessed to inappropriately touching both girls. In the Clearfield County case, he admitted to touching the victim three or four times, according to the report.

He allegedly stated that he had also been touched as a child.

He is in state prison because his probation was revoked for two 2020 cases: assault and strangulation in the first case and endangering the welfare of a child in the other. According to online court documents, he will spend up to seven years in prison as a result of that sentence.

In May, he was sentenced to 12 months to seven years in prison in the Indiana case.