A 36-year-old White Mills man had sexual intercourse with a young girl, Wayne County detectives charge.
A 13-year-old girl living in Lackawanna County reported that Matthew Tucci had been raping her since she was 9 years old, according to a criminal complaint.
The girl said the abuse last occurred Nov. 8 in Wayne County, detectives said.
The Times-Tribune does not identify victims of sexual abuse.
The girl, who was interviewed Nov. 10 at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Scranton, said the abuse started as a punishment, adding she thought it was a normal punishment that every child received, police said.
She said the sexual abuse stopped when Tucci went to jail in 2021, but started up again about four months after he was released from prison in 2022, according to the criminal complaint.
The victim disclosed the abuse to family members in the summer, but said Tucci pressured her to tell her family that she lied, detectives said.
The girl said she would often tell Tucci no, but he would say, “Oh come on, I’ll give you some privileges,” police said.
She also said she has bruises from the sexual abuse, according to the criminal complaint.
Police served a search warrant at Tucci’s residence Thursday and took him into custody.
Police charged Tucci with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 16 years of age, involuntary deviate sexual abuse of a child, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children, rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault without consent, intimidation of witnesses or victims, and other charges.
The investigation is ongoing and additional counts of each charge may be added, law enforcement officials said.
As of Tuesday, Tucci remained in Wayne County Prison in lieu of $300,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at 9 a.m.