Bellefonte man facing multiple charges connected to child sex abuse
A 43-year-old Bellefonte man is facing several felony charges after police say, on multiple occassions over the last three years, he sexually assaulted a child younger than 13 years old.
Dominick Ball allegedly began the abuse in 2022 within Woodward Township (Clinton County) before continuing the abuse in Benner Township (Centre County). According to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday, which was heavily redacted to protect the victim’s identity, Ball began touching the child inappropriately at nighttime “when everyone else was sleeping.”
Citing interviews with the victim, police said in the complaint that Ball forced the child to touch his penis, made the child watch pornography, took photos of the child and forced the child to engage in more graphic acts.
District Judge Kelley Gillette-Walker denied bail at Wednesday morning’s arraignment, and Ball was incarcerated at Centre County Correctional Facility. Ball’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. Oct. 9, and it was not immediately known if he had an attorney.
Ball is charged with five first-degree felonies — four counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child, one count of unlawful contact with a minor (sexual offenses) — and two third-degree felonies for corruption of a minor and indecent assault of a person younger than 13.
State police at Rockview began an investigation this past June of suspected child abuse. They first spoke with a caseworker from Children and Youth Services, before a forensic interviewer spoke with the child whom police said was the victim.
On the criminal docket, reasons bail was denied included that Ball remains a flight risk, faces very serious charges — and faces a “possible lengthy sentence.”
