Elmhurst man guilty of child rape
Jun. 19—SCRANTON — A jury found an Elmhurst man guilty Friday of nearly three dozen charges for raping a young girl for several years.
After a four-day trial, jurors found Francis Collin Vetter guilty of 35 of 38 counts, including counts of child rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and obstructing a child abuse investigation. The charges carry a potential maximum sentence of more than 400 years in prison if the penalties for all of the counts were to run consecutively.
The Times-Tribune does not identify victims of sexual assault.
After the verdict, Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell praised Deputy District Attorney Sara Varela and Assistant District Attorney Bo Loughney, who prosecuted the case together. The two, he said in a message, "did an excellent job with a victim who not only was sexually assaulted at a tender age but also was intimidated by the defendant to not testify."
"We are grateful that the jury saw through those tactics and rendered a guilty verdict," Powell said.
Vetter's attorney, Joseph D'Andrea, said he respected the jury's decision.
State police initially charged Vetter in January 2019 after the girl disclosed the abuse to family members. The victim tested positive for chlamydia, which authorities said is the same sexually transmitted disease which infected Vetter.
The girl, now 15, testified Wednesday the abuse began when she was 7 when Vetter had her watch pornography. The abuse later escalated to sexual contact.
Police later charged Vetter with additional offenses because they said he showed a 9-year-old boy pornography and told the child to have sex with a 10-year-old girl. Vetter was found not guilty of three of four charges related to that conduct.
Vetter was also found guilty of trying to obstruct the investigation by having another minor ask that boy to recant the allegations and to record him saying it.
In arguing for Vetter's acquittal, D'Andrea drew attention to inconsistencies in the stories the children told, saying they spun those tales for their own "survival" because they were manipulated by family who had a vendetta against Vetter.
"Lies and deception are the essence of reasonable doubt," D'Andrea said.
The children were manipulated by Vetter, Varela said. The 35-year-old "abused, manipulated and controlled" the two victims.
"It's time for someone else to stand up for these kids," Varela said during her closing argument. "The abuse, the manipulation, the betrayal, it can stop here in this courtroom."
Vetter remains in Lackawanna County Prison. A sentencing date has not been set.
Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9100, x5187; @jkohutTT on Twitter.
