NORRISTOWN – A Philadelphia man was sentenced to prison after admitting to having sexual contact with a 12-year-old Montgomery Township girl in a parked vehicle in Hatfield Township after communicating with the girl on Instagram.

Jean De La Cruz Acevedo, now 21, of the 5100 block of Penn Street, was sentenced this week in Montgomery District Court to 4 to 12 months in prison. He is charged with sexual assault and enticement of a minor in connection with an incident in January 2023. With an additional five years of probation, the sentence means Acevedo will be under court supervision for five years.

In pleading guilty to sexual assault, Acevedo admitted to having sexual contact with a person under the age of 16 at a time when he was four to eight years older than the girl. Acevedo was 20 years old at the time of the incident.

Including the 87 days he previously spent in custody awaiting trial, Acevedo must spend about a month behind bars before he can be released on parole.

Judge Risa Vetri Ferman rejected the defense’s request to impose a prison sentence already served, saying that an additional prison term was necessary to “impress” on Acevedo that such conduct would have significant and serious consequences.

“I have taken many facts into account in this case. I do not expect you to do something like this again,” Ferman said to Acevedo.

An evaluation by the Pennsylvania State Sexual Offenders Assessment Board during pre-trial proceedings found that Acevedo did not meet the criteria to be classified as a sexually violent offender.

However, due to the nature of the crime, Acevedo must provide his address to state police for 15 years to comply with the state’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, officially known as Megan’s Law.

Before learning of his fate, Acevedo, who works as a hairdresser, apologized for his behavior and said that as an adult he should have known better than to make contact with a 12-year-old girl.

“I feel sorry for the victim,” Acevedo said.

The girl, now 13 years old, was present in the courtroom but did not give a statement about the impact on the victim.

Defense attorney Elliot Cohen argued for Acevedo’s delay, pointing out that he had taken responsibility for his behavior, spared the victim from having to testify in court by pleading guilty, was not a sex offender, showed remorse and was a good candidate for rehabilitation.

Cohen suspected that the girl told Acevedo that she was older when he met her.

“He is embarrassed by this,” Cohen said, adding that the incident was not a case of forced sexual contact. “There are no threats or violence associated with this case. He still has a lot of good things ahead of him in his life.”

But Assistant District Attorney Bradley Walter Deckel argued for an additional prison sentence for Acevedo, in addition to the 87 days he had already spent behind bars.

“There was a minor involved, she was 12 years old at the time. The defendant was the adult in the situation and Pennsylvania state guidelines called for a longer prison sentence. I think the seriousness of the offense is serious and obvious in this case,” Deckel said.

According to the law, people under the age of 16 are considered incapable of having consensual sex.

“Children cannot consent to such activities. The reason we are bringing the sexual assault charge is to protect children because they are not old enough to legally consent to such activities with adults and it could lead to them being exploited and taken advantage of,” Deckel added.

The investigation began on January 3, 2023 at approximately 12:49 a.m., when Hatfield Township Police observed a Mercedes with dark tinted windows and headlights on parked under suspicious circumstances in the parking lot of the Manheim Philadelphia Auto Auction in the 2200 block of Bethlehem Pike.

When police knocked on the driver’s side of the vehicle, the rear driver’s side window rolled down and Acevedo told police he was “with a woman” and needed to get dressed, according to the criminal complaint filed by Hatfield Township Detective Eric Geiger.

Because of the dark tinted windows, police could only see the woman’s face when she leaned forward from the back seat and Acevedo, then 20, told police that the woman needed to get dressed. A short time later, a 12-year-old girl got out of the vehicle, according to court documents.

Police took the girl into custody and brought her home to her parents, who told investigators that the girl had a cell phone.

When investigators downloaded the contents of the girl’s cellphone, they found that the girl had been communicating with Acevedo through the social media app Instagram during the late evening hours of Jan. 2. During the Instagram communication, Acevedo sent the girl messages saying he was on his way to her Montgomery Township home, and at 10:56 p.m. on Jan. 2, he said, “I’m here,” according to court documents.

When the girl was interviewed by social workers, she stated that she knew Acevedo as “J” and had met him through mutual friends. The girl stated that Acevedo contacted her by cell phone on Jan. 2 and said he wanted to hang out with her. The girl told investigators that Acevedo arrived at her home and “she snuck out to go with him,” according to the criminal complaint.

“(The girl) said they went to Wawa before parking in the Hatfield parking lot. (The girl) stated they got in the back seat to eat, at which point Mr. De La Cruz Acevedo told her he wanted to have sex with her,” Geiger alleged. “(The girl) told him it was OK because they were good friends.”

Court records show the girl told investigators that Acevedo touched her, undressed her and had sexual contact with her.

“(The girl) said they stopped having sex when the police came and knocked on the door,” Geiger wrote in the criminal complaint.

Originally published: August 21, 2024 at 1:50 p.m.