Credit: Falls Township police
A Falls Township man was sentenced to state prison Tuesday for the rape of a 13-year-old girl.
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Bucks County Judge Gary Gilman sentenced Shane Ferguson, 38, of Morrisville, to seven to 15 years in state prison. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and sentenced concurrently to two to four years behind bars for violating parole in a past case.
In September 2021, Ferguson pleaded guilty to rape by forcible compulsion, aggravated indecent assault, aggravated indecent assault of a person less than 16, indecent assault, indecent assault of a person less than 16, and endangering the welfare of a child.
Ferguson raped a 13-year-old girl in January 2021 in Falls Township.
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Below is information from the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office:
The victim, a 13-year-old girl, told police she was asleep in her bedroom when Ferguson woke her up and raped her. She attempted to flee, but Ferguson grabbed her and pushed her onto a living room couch and continued to sexually assault her.
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The victim scratched at Ferguson’s face and was able to get him to stop, but as she fled out of the apartment and down the stairs, Ferguson chased her down and grabbed her by the hair.
She managed to escape when Ferguson fell on top of her.
On the day of the rape, Falls Township police had been called to the apartment where the attack took place for a disturbance related from a sexual assault, prosecutors said.
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Following the rape, Ferguson fled the area and was arrested weeks later by the U.S. Marshals Service’s Florida-Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
During Tuesday’s sentencing, the mother of the victim told the judge the rape was a “horrific nightmare” that has caused fear and anxiety to her daughter.
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The mother said a “resounding message must be sent to sexual predators.”
Deputy District Attorney Kristin McElroy, a veteran prosecutor, called the rape among the most violent cases she has worked.
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In the past, Ferguson pleaded guilty, served prison time, and received probation for aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, and possession of a weapon for a November 2015 incident in Falls Township. In that case, he was accused of holding a knife and assaulting a Levittown woman.
Ferguson was charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of children in 2013. The case moved forward on the reckless endangerment charge and he entered a first-time offender program that had him perform community service.
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