Bradford Co. man, woman charged in child rape investigation
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2025 3:28 am
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MONROETON, Pa. (WETM) – A Bradford County man and woman have been arrested in connection to a child rape and sexual assault case that police said took place over the course of five years.
Harold Manley, 58, faces a total of 84 felony and misdemeanor charges after a lengthy PSP investigation into the alleged rape of a teenage girl from Williamsport. According to the arrest report, Manley had allegedly been sexually assaulting the girl from when she was 13 years old to when she was 18.
According to the criminal complaint, the assaults allegedly happened at three different residences in Lycoming and Bradford Counties between 2016 and 2021. Manley, who is reportedly the girl’s mother’s boyfriend, would allegedly sexually touch her genitals at least once a day starting when she was 13, the affidavit said. In an interview, the victim told police that Manley would hold her down and refuse to stop when she asked him to.
The criminal complaint also said that the girl’s mother would be in the room watching. “She said her mother watched every time and didn’t say anything,” the affidavit said.
The girl said things changed when she turned 18 and Manley told her she was now a woman. She sai her mother took her off birth control she had been using to control her period a few months before her birthday and on the night of her birthday, Manley allegedly raped her, causing bleeding the next day, according to the criminal complaint. The girl also told police that her mother again watched and later told her daughter “to just forget about it.”
In the interview with police, the girl said she told a friend and her friend’s mother about the sexual assaults, and police confirmed this with texts sent to the friend. The friend then reported the texts to PSP in April 2020 when the girl was 17. The friend’s mother also said that Manely once “made out” with the girl in front of her mother and her friend and talked about the girl’s body. He also allegedly talked about how he was going to have sex with her “And there’s nothing anyone can do because she’s not his daughter,” the affidavit said.
The criminal complaint said a medical exam later reportedly supported evidence of sexual abuse.
The victim’s grandmother, who lived with victim and her mother, later told police she could hear Manley talking to the girl late at night. The grandmother also told police that the girl’s mother “told her that she would rather Harold have sex with the victim than someone else,” according to the affidavit.
Police also spoke with the girl’s biological father and his fiancee, who both said that Manley openly talked about how he would take the girl’s virginity on her 18th birthday, in front of her mother who was allegedly “sitting right next to him and laughing about what he said,” the complaint said.
Manley was charged with Rape, Sexual Assault, two counts of Aggravated Indecent Assault, Corruption of Minors and Unlawful Contact with a Minor, all felony charges. He was also charged with Indecent Assault of a person under 16 and Indecent Assault without Consent, both misdemeanors. He was arraigned on March 28 and taken to the Bradford County Correctional Facility in lieu of $75,000 bail. The Correctional Facility told 18 News that Manley was later bailed out. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 6 and another for May 18.
The girl’s mother was also charged with Corruption of Minora and Endangering the Welfare of a Child, both misdemeanor charges. 18 News has chosen not to name the girl’s mother because of privacy concerns for the victim. She has a hearing scheduled for May 27 at 10:15 a.m