Palmyra man acquitted of sexually assaulting 15-year-old girl; criminal record later expunged

Reported originally: (Palmyra) — A Palmyra man was acquitted by a jury Wednesday of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in October 2015.

Evangelos Aftosmes, 20, of Palmyra, was found not guilty after a two-day trial of two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts of sexual assault, one count of aggravated indecent assault, and two counts of indecent assault.

In a written statement given to police at Palmyra Area High School and again two weeks later at an interview at the Children’s Resource Center in Lebanon, the girl alleged that Aftosmes forced her to give him oral sex while visiting the home of a mutual friend in the 900 block of East Oak Street.

Aftosmes and the girl both attended Palmyra Area High School when the incident allegedly occurred, although the incident was said to have happened off-campus.

The allegations led school board member Ralph Duquette, who said he learned about the incident in the newspaper, to publicly question the district’s handling of the case beginning in July 2016. He said the district did not inform him of the incident or discuss it at a school board meeting.

He later said he had filed a complaint against the district with the Federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) regarding Title IX compliance, and that the OCR had requested a “large number” of documents from the district in May 2017.

Reached via Twitter on Thursday, Duquette said he has been in conversation with attorneys from the OCR and believes that, due to recent rule changes regarding Title IX reporting, his complaint “is unlikely to go any further.”

Duquette had also requested documents from the school district he says the school district should have regarding sexual assault cases. That request was partially denied by the district, after which Duquette appealed to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records. He said Thursday that he is still awaiting a final decision in that case.

Palmyra Area School District Superintendent Lisa Brown did not respond Thursday to a phone call and an email requesting comment.

“I’m confident that we handled the situation (regarding the alleged assault by Aftosmes) properly,” Brown said in 2016. “Student matters are confidential, and the rest of the board doesn’t seem to have a problem with that.”

In other Lebanon County trials Tuesday and Wednesday:

• Jesse Brubaker, 25, no address given, was found not guilty Tuesday of all charges, including possession of an improperly altered firearm, possession of a prohibited firearm, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint causing serious bodily injury, recklessly endangering another person, and harassment.
• Michael Jenkins, 54, of Palmyra, was found not guilty Wednesday of criminal attempt at burglary and criminal attempt at trespassing by breaking into a structure. However, he was found guilty of defiant trespass and criminal mischief. Police said Jenkins was caught May 2 outside Fresh Donuts at 1202 Cumberland St., Lebanon, after an employee called police to report someone trying to break into the closed business. Police said he caused damage to the outside walls while trying to get in.
• Nicholas Tiffany, 37, of Lebanon, was found guilty Wednesday of possession of a controlled substance and use or possession of drug paraphernalia. He was charged after an incident Nov. 20, 2016 in the 200 block of Weidman Street.

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The Lebanon Daily News.