Mark Swope Jr. was credited with 313 days and was designated a Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act Tier III offender after a hearing, review and recommendation by a member of the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board that he be labeled as such.
Under Pennsylvania law, a sexually violent predator is someone convicted of a sexually violent offense who has “a mental abnormality or personality disorder” that makes the person likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses.
Sex offender registration and notification is a tool for ensuring public safety and managing treatment for offenders, with the goal of preventing re-offending.
Some special conditions of those designated as sexually violent predators is mandatory lifetime sex offender counseling at least once a month. Law enforcement also must notify the community — neighbors, county children and youth agencies, local day care centers, school districts and institutions of higher education that the person is a sexually violent offender and provide his address, offense and photograph, according to the law.
These conditions are for a lifetime.
The victim of the sexual assaults has been very traumatized, according to her mother in an email Friday.
"She has been going through counseling for years but nothing was helping. We didn’t know why until she came forward in January (2022). She is still seeing two trauma therapists and a psychiatrist," she wrote.
"Our family was also in family based therapy because it has seriously affected us all. It was a complete shock to us all when she finally came forward about what had happened. She’s a very brave girl and her courage has been admirable," her mother said.
The sexual assaults of the young teen were over several months in 2019, according to court documents. Swope was 41 and the child was 14 at the time of the assaults.
The incidents came to law enforcement and the family's attention when the young teen reported to a school official Jan. 7 that she had been sexually assaulted. The school-based police officer at the time conducted an interview with her.
Somerset Borough Police Detective Ruth Beckner filed charges the same day. Originally the charges were sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, endangering welfare of children, corruption of minors, indecent assault and indecent exposure, 40 counts in all, with 30 being felonies.
After a plea arrangement, Geary accepted Swope's guilty plea July 13 to one count of indecent deviant sexual intercourse of a person less than 16 years of age.
"We do feel that justice was served. Although no amount of time given to him in prison will erase the damage done to her and to our family," her mother said.
On Wednesday, family members read their victim impact statements at the sentencing.
"It was very therapeutic to us all," she said.
As to the future: "I believe more light needs to be put on this subject. I know my daughter is very eager to help anyone else who has went through this type of thing," her mother said.
