A Franklin County jury convicted 48-year-old Rigoberto Alegria of rape of a child and 12 related counts last Friday, closing out a case that began when a young relative reported years of sexual abuse starting when she was just 4 years old. Alegria was taken into custody immediately after the two-day trial concluded, and he now faces a sentencing hearing that carries the weight of multiple mandatory minimum prison terms.
The verdict, handed down on Oct. 16 according to court records cited by the Chambersburg Public Opinion, came after prosecutors dropped 19 other counts that had been part of the original case against Alegria. Judge Todd Sponseller presided over the trial in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. Alegria is scheduled to return for sentencing on Nov. 18 at 9 a.m.
Pennsylvania State Police began investigating Alegria after the girl reported that she had been sexually assaulted repeatedly between the ages of 4 and 8. According to the newspaper's account, the abuse occurred at homes in Chambersburg Borough and in the woods behind an elementary school. The girl said Alegria forced her to participate in multiple sexual acts and physically prevented her from stopping or getting away, and that he showed her pornographic videos she described as adults “doing bad stuff.” Police said Alegria pressured the girl not to disclose the abuse by threatening that she would be grounded and that her parents would be taken away.
Investigation Traces Back to 2024 Arrest
The Pennsylvania State Police investigation that led to Alegria's arrest in February 2024 was followed by initial law enforcement reports indicating he faced three felony counts of rape of a child and nine felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, as reported by Tri-State Alert. Bail was initially denied after his arrest, and was later set at $350,000; Alegria was released from Franklin County Jail almost a year before last week's conviction.
The jury ultimately convicted Alegria on one count each of rape of a child, statutory sexual assault involving a defendant 11 or more years older than the victim, aggravated indecent assault of a child, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children, intimidation of a witness or victim, and indecent assault of a person under age 13. He was also convicted on three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child and three counts of unlawful contact with a minor involving sexual offenses. All of the conviction counts are felonies except the indecent assault charge, the paper's report notes.
Mandatory Minimums Could Stack Into Decades
The rape of a child conviction alone carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of 40 years, per the Public Opinion's reporting. Pennsylvania's mandatory sentencing statute sets a 10-year mandatory minimum for child rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse involving a victim under 16, according to FindLaw's summary of the statute. The same statute sets a five-year mandatory minimum for aggravated indecent assault involving a victim under 13.
Separately, the statutory sexual assault conviction, which applies because Alegria was more than 11 years older than his victim, is classified as a first-degree felony under Pennsylvania's crimes code, carrying a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine, according to The Zeiger Firm. Pennsylvania law defines involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child as a first-degree felony covering non-consensual or non-statutory sexual acts against a complainant under 13, as outlined by RAINN.
Lifetime Registration Awaits After Prison
Beyond whatever prison term Judge Sponseller imposes, Alegria will face mandatory lifetime consequences once any sentence is served. Convictions for child rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse are classified as Tier III sexual offenses under Pennsylvania's Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, requiring lifetime sex offender registration with quarterly in-person verification, according to the Bickerton Law Blog.
The Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, where Alegria was tried and will be sentenced, is part of Pennsylvania's 39th Judicial District, a two-county district covering Franklin and Fulton counties presided over by President Judge Shawn D. Meyers alongside associate judges including Judge Sponseller, according to the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania.
This conviction lands amid a string of recent child sexual abuse prosecutions moving through Franklin County's courts. Hoodline previously reported on a Chambersburg man charged in a decade-old case involving three girls, and on the July arrest of a 50-year-old father and his 28-year-old son after two juvenile girls reported being assaulted elsewhere in the county. Together with Alegria's conviction, the cases point to sustained enforcement activity between Pennsylvania State Police and county prosecutors targeting child sexual abuse allegations across Franklin County.
