(Sandy Giordano/Beaver County Radio)

Beaver County District Attorney David J. Lozier issued a press release yesterday after a defendant entered a guilty plea in 3 criminal cases of rape of a child under age 13. 

On May 20, 2022 New Sewickley Township Police received a complaint that a child had been sexually assaulted. A Forensic Interview was held at  A Child’s Place in Beaver Falls, PA. This is when the female minor revealed that she had been sexually assaulted numerous times by 29-year-old Austin Reefer. The child delayed in reporting the assault at age 9 because she saw an assault by Reefer and feared for their safety. She reported it after Reefer was arrested and jailed for the domestic violence of an adult known to the child.

Reefer was charged with felony strangulation and simple assault arising from  him assaulting the adult. Arising from Domestic violence, he was charged with 94 criminal counts, including 10 counts each of a rape of a child under age 13, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion. The third case is a criminal felony, endangering the welfare of children arising from domestic violence regarding another sexual partner.

He offered a guilty plea in all 3 cases on Monday, May 15, 2023. After the jury heard the case, the Commonwealth asked the court for a 8 1/2 to 20 year prison sentence and Megan’s Law Registry. The Commonwealth agreed to the plea with the consent of all 3 victims to spare the child further trauma. He is currently in the county jail. Sentencing  is scheduled before Judge Mitchell Shahen on August 28, 2023.