A 47-year-old visitor to Plymouth Borough is facing nine charges, including rape and kidnapping, after court filings allege he met a 14-year-old girl at a local Turkey Hill convenience store just after midnight and lured her back to a house on East Walnut Street. Travis Kentel Webb, who was staying with an acquaintance in the borough, was arrested over the weekend following a rapid police investigation, and a magisterial district judge has ordered him held without bail.
According to Fox56, Plymouth Borough police say the investigation began after the alleged assault on August 22, and Webb now faces charges including rape and kidnapping, both first-degree felonies, along with three counts of aggravated indecent assault, false imprisonment, felony corruption of minors, misdemeanor terroristic threats, and misdemeanor simple assault. Court filings cited by WNEP allege Webb, a Weldon, North Carolina resident, encountered the girl at the convenience store after midnight before leading her to the East Walnut Street home.
Threats and a BB Gun
Court filings allege that when the teen asked to leave, Webb threatened to shoot her in the face, frightening her with what she believed was a handgun in his pocket, per the same WNEP account. Police later identified the weapon recovered from the home as a BB gun, the station reports.
The girl reported the assault to her mother around 2 a.m., and investigators corroborated her account in an unusual way: Webb repeatedly called her cell phone while she was being interviewed by police, and when officers dialed the number back, they were able to verify his location, according to the same report. That break allowed Plymouth Borough police to obtain a search warrant and arrest Webb within roughly 12 hours of the assault being reported, per Fox56.
A Prior Rape Charge in North Carolina
Webb's arrest in Pennsylvania follows a criminal history in his home state. RRSpin reported in June 2020 that Webb was previously arrested in Halifax County, North Carolina, on charges including second-degree rape, larceny of a motor vehicle, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, according to RRSpin. WNEP reports that Webb ultimately pleaded guilty to assault in North Carolina in 2022 and was sentenced to serve 40 to 60 months in prison.
Magisterial District Judge Richard Cronauer arraigned Webb and denied bail, ordering him held at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility pending a preliminary hearing, per Fox56. Under Article I, Section 14 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, magisterial district judges may deny pre-trial bail when no combination of release conditions would reasonably assure the safety of any person or the community, according to a report from Allegheny Attorneys at Law.
What Webb Could Face If Convicted
The severity of the charges carries significant sentencing exposure. Under Pennsylvania law, first-degree felonies such as rape and kidnapping each carry a statutory maximum of up to 20 years in state prison and a $25,000 fine, according to Shrager Defense Attorneys. Second-degree felonies like aggravated indecent assault and false imprisonment each carry maximum sentences of up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $25,000, per Crouthamel Law Offices.
Plymouth Borough police have not released additional information about the circumstances of the alleged assault or Webb's relationship with the juvenile, according to Fox56. It remains unclear how long Webb had been staying in Plymouth or whether local authorities were previously aware of his presence in the borough.
A Small Borough Grappling With Child Safety Cases
Plymouth Borough sits along the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County's Wyoming Valley, about four miles west of Wilkes-Barre. The borough has seen another recent child endangerment case land at the same correctional facility this month, though that arrest involved unrelated circumstances.
Statewide, the case arrives amid ongoing scrutiny of child welfare enforcement. Data from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services shows county child protective services agencies investigated 41,070 reports of suspected child abuse and neglect across the state in 2024. Webb's preliminary hearing before Judge Cronauer has not yet been scheduled, and it remains to be seen how the case will proceed through the Luzerne County court system.
