NORRISTOWN — Saying a Philadelphia man violated the trust of an 8-year-old girl by having indecent contact with her while she was in his company at a residence in Lower Merion Township, a judge sent him to state prison for up to five years.
“This defendant clearly sexually assaulted a child who was in his care and trust. Clearly, this is a violation of trust. There is no remorse. I don’t see any here,” Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill said on Friday as he sentenced Jovan McCreary to 22- to-60 months in a state correctional facility in connection with a November 2024 incident while he was at the child’s Lower Merion home.
With consecutive three years of probation, the sentence means McCreary, 38, of the 1400 block of North 15th Street, will be under court supervision for eight years.
In February, a jury convicted McCreary of misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, endangering the welfare of a child and corruption of a minor in connection with the incident.
With a split verdict, the jury acquitted McCreary of the most serious felony charge of aggravated indecent assault and an additional charge of indecent assault.
“You are a convicted sex offender, that’s what you are,” O’Neill addressed McCreary, who at trial testified he did not touch the girl in an indecent manner. “The jury said it happened. The jury believed her (the victim). She did nothing wrong and that needs to be clear in this case.”
Jovan McCreary (Photo by Carl Hessler Jr. – MediaNews Group)
In a letter read in court, the victim told the judge she still suffers nightmares and anxiety and has a difficult time trusting others.
“What happened to me has changed my life. The effects of what he did to me will last the rest of my life. Why did he do this to me?” the girl wrote.
McCreary, who was 37 at the time of the incident, knew the girl’s mother and had access to the girl, who was 8 at the time of the incident.
“He violated a child who trusted him. The trauma follows us every day,” the victim’s mother stated through tears as she asked the judge to sentence McCreary to a lengthy prison term.
O’Neill said he heard emotional trauma, anger and confusion in the victim impact statements.
“What I heard was clearly the trauma of a child. It is potentially life-long trauma,” said O’Neill, adding that trauma was the result of McCreary’s conduct.
McCreary did not address the judge before learning his fate and did not offer an apology.
“I have nothing to say,” McCreary told the judge.
Jovan McCreary is escorted by sheriff’s deputies from a Montgomery County courtroom on June 26, 2026, after his sentencing hearing. (Photo by Carl Hessler Jr. – MediaNews Group)
Defense lawyers Andrew Joseph Levin and John Francis McCaul asked the judge to impose a sentence that was no more than the 16 months McCreary has been in jail while awaiting court action and sentencing on the charges.
But Assistant District Attorney Margot S. Weitz argued for consecutive prison terms on the charges of indecent assault and endangering the welfare of a child. The judge imposed concurrent sentences.
“A lengthy prison term is important for a few reasons. First of all, the victim was a child and he violated her trust. It was also important to keep the community safe. His actions show that he is a danger to the community,” Weitz said.
Testimony revealed McCreary has previous convictions, including for assault in Philadelphia, for which he still faces a parole or probation violation hearing and potentially, additional prison time.
“It demonstrates he does not learn from his actions even when there is a consequence to them,” Weitz argued.
Weitz characterized the victim as having strength and courage for testifying at trial.
“This is something that has affected her ability to trust people and move throughout the world with not the same innocence that she once had. At the same time, her strength in testifying at trial and also through her victim impact statement is immeasurable,” Weitz said. “She had the strength to tell someone what this man did to her and she has shown that she is probably a lot stronger than she thinks.”
McCreary faces a lifetime requirement to report his address to state police as a sex offender in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, previously known as Megan’s Law.
Jovan McCreary is escorted by a deputy sheriff to his trial in Montgomery County Court. (Photo by Carl Hessler Jr. – MediaNews Group)
During the trial, the girl, now 9, testified that McCreary touched her in an indecent manner and forced her to touch his genitals when she was in his company at her Haverford residence on Nov. 14, 2024.
When he stepped into the witness box, McCreary denied indecently touching the girl, claiming he doesn’t “cuddle” with little girls. McCreary testified he found the charges embarrassing.
Defense lawyers suggested the girl made inconsistent statements and that prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence to support any of the charges. Defense lawyers argued there was reasonable doubt in the case and that prosecutors presented no evidence to corroborate the girl’s allegations.
The investigation began on Nov. 15, 2024, when the girl’s mother appeared at the Lower Merion Police Department with her daughter to report that McCreary had inappropriate contact with the girl.
Testimony revealed that earlier that day, the girl told a friend at school that McCreary touched her in an indecent manner when McCreary was at her home the night before. The girl, at the urging of her friend, then confided in a school counselor, who contacted the girl’s mother to report the girl’s disclosure.
When the girl was interviewed by detectives and child social workers, she reported that McCreary indecently touched her, then exposed himself and grabbed her hand and forced her to touch his genitals, according to court documents.
The girl told authorities, “it made me feel uncomfortable, and I tried to pull away, but he kept pulling me,” according to the criminal complaint filed by Lower Merion Detective Joseph Hunsicker.
The girl’s mother, according to testimony, was sleeping at the time McCreary had contact with the girl.
“The juvenile victim stated she is scared of McCreary because ‘he knows where we live,’” Hunsicker alleged in the arrest affidavit.