Man charged with sexual abuse of child in Jefferson County | Crime

PORTER – A man has been sentenced to prison for several serious crimes after being accused of sexually abusing a child in a Jefferson County residence.

State Police in Punxsutawney have charged Joshua Xavier Barden, 33, of Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, with four counts of rape of a child (a first-degree felony), four counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse (IDSI) with a person under 16 years of age (a first-degree felony), four counts of sexual assault (a second-degree felony) and four counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child (a felony), according to a criminal complaint filed July 1 in the office of District Judge Jacqueline Mizerock.

According to the probable cause affidavit, this alleged incident occurred two to three years ago. The victim in the investigation, currently 9 years old, was 6-7 years old when the alleged assaults occurred multiple times between 2021 and 2022 in Jefferson County. Barden would have been 29-30 years old at the time.

The victim’s parents brought her to the State Police Station in Kitanning on March 18, 2024. The victim stated that she was sexually abused by Barden while she was staying at a home in Porter Township, Jefferson County when she was 6-7 years old. State Police in Kittanning turned the case over to State Police in Punxsutawney.

During an interview on April 4, 2024, the victim told police that Barden allegedly touched her inappropriately at the Porter Township residence. She stated he told her to keep it a secret, according to the probable cause affidavit.

On April 12, 2024, a Jefferson County detective reportedly learned that Barden had contacted a woman about the incidents, telling her that he was upset and scared of going to jail. Barden told her that he and the victim had been “playing around” and he allegedly committed these acts by accident. Barden also allegedly said that the victim “asked him to do these things to her.”

Barden is being held in the Jefferson County Jail pending $5,000 bail. He waived a preliminary hearing in Mizerock’s office on July 3.