NORRISTOWN — A man from Philadelphia admitted to having sexual contact with a 12-year-old girl from Montgomery Township in a parked car in Hatfield Township after talking with the girl on Instagram.
Jean De La Cruz Acevedo, 21, from the 5100 block of Penn Street, entered a guilty plea in Montgomery County Court to felony charges of statutory sexual assault and corruption of a minor related to an incident in January 2023.
Judge Risa Vetri Ferman postponed sentencing in order for court officials to finish a background investigation report about Acevedo, who will undergo a psychosexual evaluation as part of that investigation.
The open plea means Acevedo has no agreements with prosecutors regarding his potential sentence. Acevedo could be sentenced to a maximum of 8½ to 17 years in prison on the charges. However, state sentencing guidelines might allow for a lesser sentence.
Regardless of the sentence Acevedo eventually receives, he will be required to report his address to state police for 15 years to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.
The judge ordered that Acevedo also undergo an evaluation by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Assessment Board, which will determine if he meets the criteria to be classified as a sexually violent predator. Those classified as predators face stricter restrictions while on parole or probation.
Acevedo is currently out on bail until the sentencing hearing. As a condition of his bail, he is not allowed to have contact with the victim.
The investigation began at around 12:49 a.m. on Jan. 3, 2023, when Hatfield Township police noticed a Mercedes vehicle with dark tinted windows and its lights on, suspiciously parked in the lot of Manheim Philadelphia Auto Auction on 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 that he was “with a female” and needed to get dressed, according to the criminal complaint filed by Hatfield Township Detective Eric Geiger.
Because of the dark tinted windows, police only saw the girl's face briefly when she leaned forward from the rear passenger seat, and Acevedo, who was 20 at the time, told police that the girl needed to get dressed. Shortly after, a 12-year-old girl came out of the vehicle, according to court documents.
Police took the girl into custody and brought her back home to her parents, who told detectives that the girl had a cellphone.
When detectives checked the contents of the girl’s phone, they found that she had been communicating with Acevedo through the Instagram app late on the evening of Jan. 2. During their conversations on Instagram, Acevedo sent the girl messages saying that 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 papers.
When the girl was interviewed by child social workers, she revealed that she knew Acevedo as “J” and had met him through mutual friends. She also said that Acevedo had contacted her via phone on Jan. 2 and said he wanted to hang out. According to the criminal complaint, the girl told investigators that Acevedo came to her house and “she snuck out to go with him.”
'The girl said they went to Wawa before parking in the parking lot in Hatfield. The girl indicated they got into the back seat to eat when 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.'
The girl told investigators that Acevedo touched her, undressed her and had sexual contact with her, according to court papers.
'The girl said that they stopped having sex when the police arrived and knocked on the door,' Geiger wrote in the criminal complaint.
