A Philadelphia man who sexually assaulted a 12-year-old Hatfield girl he met on Instagram in a Mercedes in the parking lot of the Manheim Philadelphia Auto Auction in the late hours of January 3 last year has been sentenced to four to 12 months in prison.

Jean De La Cruz Acevedo, 21, of the 5100 block of Penn Street, pleaded guilty to prosecutors on April 4 as part of an open guilty plea to reduced charges of sexual assault and enticement of a minor. Acevedo was initially charged with two counts of aggravated rape of a child, and a sexual assault charge was already dropped at his preliminary hearing last year.

According to The Mercury, Acevedo also received five years of probation as part of the ruling. He must register his address for the next 15 years under the state’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act – formerly known as Megan’s Law.

A Hatfield Township police officer observed a white Mercedes with dark tinted windows parked in the parking lot of the Manheim Philadelphia Auto Auction at 12:49 a.m. on Jan. 3, 2023. The officer pulled up behind the vehicle and noticed that the engine was running, but he could not see anything inside because of the tint, according to charging documents.

When the officer knocked on the driver’s side window, the rear driver’s side window rolled down and a man – later identified as Acevedo – said he was “with a woman” and needed to get dressed, police said. Acevedo showed police his driver’s license, which showed he was 20 years old, when the victim – a 12-year-old girl – got out of the back seat of the vehicle, the report said.

The girl was then taken by police to her parents’ house, where her father confirmed that she was only 12 years old, police said.

The following day, police downloaded content from the girl’s cellphone that allegedly showed that she was communicating with Acevedo via Instagram and had arranged to meet with him at around 11 p.m. on January 2, 2023. The report adds that communication between Acevedo and the girl continued even after her encounter with police, according to the complaint.

Several weeks later, the girl was interviewed at Mission Kids, where she revealed that she had met Acevedo through mutual friends and he had reached out to her to hang out, police said. The girl said she snuck out of her house to meet up with Acevedo and the two went to Wawa to get something to eat before Acevedo parked in the parking lot of the Manheim Philadelphia Auto Auction, the report said.

After the meal, Acevedo allegedly told the girl he wanted to have sex with her and she said that was OK “because they were good friends,” police said. He then sexually assaulted the girl in the back seat of the vehicle, which was then interrupted by police, the report said.

Children under the age of 13 are not allowed to consent to sexual activity with others in Pennsylvania. The general age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16, but teens between the ages of 13 and 15 can consent to sex as long as the partner is less than four years older. For more information on sexual activity protection laws, click here.