Man facing 33 child sex assault charges

A man is facing a litany of charges over a string of alleged sexual assaults police say happened more than three years ago.

An investigation was launched by local officials Oct. 6 when Homeland Security Investigations contacted state police at Lewistown concerning a child pornography incident. A special agent emailed facial pictures of a male teenager to a state trooper to investigate its origin.

A state trooper identified the male as a 17-year-old and interviewed the teenager at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Sunbury. The teenager said Hakeem J. Hughes, 28, had contact with him from February 2014 to November 2015. The two were 14 and 25 years old, respectively, when they met online.

The teenager told police that Hughes, of Pottstown, drove to his home four or five times in a 20-month period and had the teenager perform sexual acts on him, according to an affidavit. The teenager also accused Hughes of taking pictures and filming him perform sexual acts, which was supported by a video obtained by HSI.

Hughes was charged with six counts of felony statutory sexual assault, six counts of felony involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person younger than 16, one felony count of photographing or filming a sex act by a child, six counts of felony unlawful contact with a minor, two counts of felony aggravated indecent assault of a person younger than 16, six counts of felony corruption of minors and six counts of misdemeanor indecent assault of a person younger than 16.

He was unable to post $100,000 bail and taken to Mifflin County Prison.

This story was originally published November 8, 2017 at 12:08 AM with the headline "Man facing 33 child sex assault charges."