A Hanover Township man admitted to sexually assaulting and photographing a girl while she was nude, entering a guilty plea that resolves a case stretching back three years. Shaun Loux pleaded guilty to one count each of rape of a child and photographing or filming a child sex act, along with 57 counts of possessing child sexual abuse images, and he is expected to be sentenced to 13 to 26 years in state prison with lifetime registration as a sex offender.
According to Times Leader, prosecutor Allyson L. Kacmarski announced that a plea agreement had been reached with Loux and his attorney, and she withdrew a previously filed Tender Years motion as part of the deal. More than 350 other counts of child sexual abuse materials were withdrawn in the agreement, the outlet reported. Loux, 41, formerly lived at Lee Park Towers on Lee Park Avenue in Hanover Township.
Police in court records say Loux sexually assaulted the girl and took pictures of her while he lived in a fourth-floor apartment at Lee Park Towers, per the same account. Loux was charged after the girl was questioned by forensic interviewers at the Luzerne County Children’s Advocacy Center. A Tender Years hearing, the report notes, is required to permit a child’s out-of-court statements to forensic interviewers, social workers, and law enforcement officials to be presented to a jury — a step that became unnecessary once the plea was entered.
How the Case Began and Escalated
Hanover Township police initially arrested Loux in October 2023 on a single count of possessing child sexual abuse materials, the article notes. He faced additional charges in November 2023, according to court records cited in the same report. A forensic extraction of Loux’s phone resulted in approximately 360 pictures of child sexual abuse images of the girl he was accused of sexually assaulting, per the report — though an earlier account from Fox56 put that figure at approximately 358 suspected child pornography photos and identified Loux as 38 years old at the time of the 2023 charges, a discrepancy from the 41 years of age reported this week.
Sentencing Set for February
Loux was scheduled for a Tender Years motions hearing before Judge Michael T. Vough, a Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas judge, before the plea agreement replaced the need for that proceeding. Vough said he will sentence Loux on Feb. 25, 2027, the outlet reported. Under Pennsylvania law, sex-offender registration periods can run anywhere from 10 years to a lifetime depending on the offense and classification, according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, though prosecutors have said Loux will be required to register for life under the state’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.
Pennsylvania law also governs how a child’s out-of-court statements can be used in cases like this one. Under a separate statute from the Pennsylvania General Assembly, a child victim’s statement describing a sexual offense may be admitted at trial if a court finds it relevant and sufficiently reliable and the child testifies or is unavailable, provided advance notice is given to the opposing party. That legal framework underpinned the Tender Years hearing that was ultimately set aside once Loux agreed to plead guilty.
