Forcible Rape Of Minor Leads To Consent Disbarment

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has accepted the consent disbarment of an attorney convicted of and awaiting sentencing for forcible rape.

The Times Tribune.com had information about the charges

A former Lackawanna County assistant public defender who also specialized in child custody disputes has been charged with raping a 15-year-old Olyphant girl.

In the first encounter last summer, Olyphant attorney Kenneth Andrew Kovaleski, 38, put his hand over the girl’s mouth and told her “she had better be quiet,” arrest papers filed Wednesday by county Detective Chris Kolcharno and borough police officer Lewis Kline state.

He then pulled off her shorts, kissed her lips and raped her, arrest papers state. When she complained of pain, he again covered her mouth with his hand and said, “I told you to shut up.”

Afterward, when she said she was going to tell someone what happened, Mr. Kovaleski said, “No, you’re not. I know every single DA in this town and every single police officer. No one is going to believe you,” said investigators. The next morning, he acted as if nothing had happened.

The victim, who provided the account of the allegations to investigators at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Scranton on July 6, told them he did not use a condom and that it “burned” when she urinated. The Times-Tribune does not identify victims of sexual abuse.

Over the course of a year, from June 2011 to June 2012, investigators said Mr. Kovaleski would go into the girl’s bedroom, masturbate and perform oral sex on her.

Mr. Kovaleski, 216 Old Powder Mill Road, Olyphant, is facing seven felony charges: rape forcible compulsion; involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with a person less than 16 years of age; involuntary deviant sexual intercourse forcible compulsion; incest; endangering the welfare of children; unlawful contact with a minor – sexual offense; and aggravated indecent assault with a person less than 16 years of age. He also faces two misdemeanor charges of indecent assault without the consent of others and corruption of minors.

He denied the charges when questioned by Detective Kolcharno at his home with his wife, Joanna, present.  Mr. Kovaleski said the allegations are “crazy,” and his wife told the detective that the victim has been diagnosed with a psychosis and is medicated.

The attorney was found guilty by a jury in February of this year. (Mike Frisch)