WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. – A Lehigh Valley man who made international headlines in 2018 for running away to Mexico with a teenage girl is standing trial this week.
Jurors are being selected Tuesday in the trial of Kevin Esterly of Whitehall Township.
It comes a day after a judge denied his request to remove the Lehigh County district attorney’s office from the case and to have new charges against him thrown out.
Esterly is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl and giving her drugs over a period of years and then fleeing to Mexico with her when she was 16.
He previously pleaded not guilty to sexual assault and related charges.