A New Kensington man has pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of a pre-teen girl.
Police said Thomas L. Burruss, 50, plied his victim with candy to convince her to keep quite about the sexual activity that started in 2022 and continued for about five months.
Burruss pleaded guilty to two felony counts of sexual assault and was sentenced Wednesday by Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani to serve 6 to 15 years in prison and three additional years on probation. Burruss will also be subject a lifetime requirement to register with state police as a convicted sex offender.
Westmoreland County prosecutors dismissed 21 counts, including charges of rape, the most serious offenses he faced.
Assistant District Attorney Anthony Iannamorelli said dismissal of the charges facilitated a plea deal that was finalized with the consent of Burruss’ accuser. Iannamorelli recommended Burruss serve an 8-to-20-year prison sentence.
Iannamorelli read a statement from Burruss’s accuser in which she called on the judge to impose a maximum sentence.
“This crime robbed me of my innocence. The spunkiness I had as a child is gone. I’m afraid to be in groups of people,” she wrote. “Today is my birthday and I look at this day as a gift that I will be done with this part of my life forever.”
Pleads guilty in second case
Burruss, in a second case, pleaded guilty to a weapons offense.
New Kensington police said Burruss, as a convicted felon, was not permitted to possess a gun that he pointed at another man during a February 2024 dispute. Police said Burruss then gave it to his girlfriend and directed her to point the weapon.
His girlfriend was not charged and no one was injured, police said.
The judge ordered Burruss to serve a concurrent sentence of three to six years for the weapons offense.