Two former inmates at state prisons in Centre County facing felony assault charges
Two men who were incarcerated at the state prisons in Centre County are now facing felony assault charges for different alleged attacks.
Eric J. Erlemann, 54, of Lehigh County, was charged with sexual assault. A fellow inmate reported Erlemann sexually assaulted him in November at Rockview state prison, state police at Rockview wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed Tuesday.
Erlemann denied the allegation, but a trooper said in the charging document that DNA testing refuted his claim.
Steven Ashby, 36, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault. He was accused of punching a corrections officer in the face multiple times earlier this month at Benner Township state prison.
Ashby “aggressively approached” the corrections officer while yelling obscenities, police wrote in another affidavit of probable cause. The officer deployed pepper spray, but police said Ashby started swinging his fists and struck the officer multiple times.
The alleged assault was captured on video, police wrote.
The corrections officer was treated at Mount Nittany Medical Center for injuries troopers described as serious. They did not provide a more detailed description of the injuries in the charging document.
Neither had been arraigned as of Tuesday afternoon. Each has a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 16.
Erlemann was sentenced in July 2021 to serve 10 to 20 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to one felony count of rape in Lehigh County. He’s now incarcerated at Mercer state prison in western Pennsylvania.
Ashby was sentenced in October 2010 to serve 27 1/2 to 60 years in prison. He was found guilty of more than a dozen charges after a June 2008 bench trial in Allegheny County, including felony counts of burglary, robbery, aggravated assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.
He’s now incarcerated at Huntingdon state prison.
This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 5:06 AM.