A man from Pennsylvania who has been accused of raping and physically assaulting a 10-year-old girl on multiple occasions was arrested and charged, police said.
Police arrested 42-year-old Roscoe Roy, Jr. on Friday, January 24, and charged him with raping a child, strangulation, and aggravated indecent assault of a child. The case, filed in Cumberland County, also included two misdemeanor charges of indecent exposure and assault.
Detectives from the Lower Allen Township Police Department started investigating Roy in May 2019, after the girl reported to UPMC Children’s Center, an advocacy group for children, that the man was physically and sexually abusing her
Roy allegedly abused the girl between 2018 and 2019 in his Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania home. The 42-year-old moved to the Harrisburg area but, according to local police, has been homeless in recent times.
According to court records, the girl told authorities she would sleep in the man’s bed and once woke up to him raping her. On another occasion, the girl said the attack was so bad that she passed out and thought she would die. The only thing she recalls from that incident was Roy’s hands around her neck, strangling her.
Roy allegedly threatened to murder the girl if she reported the abuse to anyone.
The girl reportedly told police that she felt like Roy treated her like a ragdoll and sexually assaulted her as punishment.
One time, the girl angered the man by feeding a dog, prompting him to duct tape her to a punching bag in his house and beat her, causing her injuries.
During another incident, the girl said she refused to get the man his cigarettes and beer, prompting him to pull her by her hair into a bathroom. Roy allegedly tried to drown her in a bathtub before throwing her down a flight of stairs.
The man tried to strangle her with a headset because she did not turn his Xbox off as quickly as he liked.
The relationship between the girl and Roy is unclear, including why she was at his residence. It is also unclear why the investigation took so long to bring charges against him.
According to the police department, the charges against Roy were filed after a lengthy investigation by detectives.
Roy was taken to the Cumberland County Prison and held on a $200,000 bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 9.
A Lower Allen Township Police spokesperson said they were waiting for the preliminary hearing but were confident that the charges they brought against Roy would lead to a trial.
