An Indiana man was arrested Wednesday evening charged with several felony sex offenses including statutory sexual assault and aggravated indecent sexual assault.
State police say that 51-year-old Stephen Joe Czerniec, Jr. was taken into custody without incident yesterday. The investigation started on June 16th with a reported sexual assault of an un-named boy. Police identified Czerniec as their lead suspect.
The investigation revealed that Czerniec first made contact with the boy through the online dating app “Grindr”. He believed the boy was 15-years-old. Czerniec is also accused of sending nude photographs and text messages to the juvenile through the “Kik” app utilizing the screen name “Steve Czerniec”. Police say that on June 16th, Czerniec allegedly drove to Clymer, picked up the victim, took him to another place and had sexual relations with the victim.
On June 20th, Czerniec was arraigned before District Judge Jennifer Rega and is now in Indiana County Jail in lieu of $25,000 cash bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 3rd .
