Martial Arts instructor pleads guilty to multiple sex offenses
Apr. 15—WILKES-BARRE — A Pittston Township man charged with sexually assaulting several women including when they were children decades ago pled guilty in Luzerne County Court on Thursday.
David John Williams, 59, of Boston Street, was arrested several times by county detectives and Pittston police beginning in February 2021.
Court records say Williams was a family friend to the victims.
As Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky reviewed the plea agreements on five separate cases, Assistant District Attorney Shana Messinger briefly described the offenses against the women who were children when they were assaulted:
The youngest victim was 4-years-old when Williams first assaulted her in 2007 and continued to 2008. The earliest victim was 13-years-old when she began to be assaulted by Williams in 1995, according to Messinger.
During Messinger's presentation of the offenses, Williams blurted out, "I kind of had no choice," which prompted Sklarosky to pause and ask Messinger and Williams' attorney, Benjamin Stanton, if Williams understood the plea agreement.
Stanton conversed with Williams resulting in Sklarosky accepting the plea agreements that includes Williams to spend 25 to 50 years in state prison.
Williams pled guilty to three total counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and one count each of endangering the welfare of children and aggravated indecent assault.
Williams is subject to lifetime registration of his address under the state's Sex Offender and Registration Notification Act. He will be evaluated by the state's Sex Offender Assessment Board if he meets the criteria of a violent sexual predator.
Sklarosky said he will sentence Williams on Aug. 11.
Williams was a martial arts instructor in the Pittston area and was a drummer in several rock bands in the 1980s and 1990s.
