With jury selection scheduled for Monday, 22-year-old Matthew Darby has opted for a Plea Court appearance today before Judge Thomas Bianco to answer rape charges involving his former girlfriend, an IUP student.
Darby, who is from Greensburg, pleaded guilty to first degree murder yesterday in Allegheny County. He killed another former girlfriend, 20-year-old Alina Sheykhet at her off-campus apartment near the University of Pittsburgh in March of 2017.
The charges for which he will plead today in Indiana County Court include rape, aggravated indecent assault, and indecent assault, all with the added degree of forcible compulsion, and sexual assault. The incident happened at an apartment along Maple Street in February of 2017. The victim told police that a night after they broke up, Darby called her repeatedly asking to come over and apologize, until she finally allowed him to visit. When she told him she was seeing someone else, he allegedly pulled her by the hair and raped her. Darby has claimed they had consensual relations.
Darby is also charged with raping a 17-year-old girl in Allegheny County in October of last year.
Plea Court is scheduled for 8:30 this morning.
