The owner of a long-standing furniture store in Harrisburg pleaded guilty earlier this month to sexually abusing a girl during her childhood, potentially earning decades in jail.
According to Jennifer Gettle, chief deputy district attorney for Dauphin County, Eddie Ruth, the proprietor of the now-closed Eddie’s Furniture, entered a no contest plea on December 18 to 11 charges, including involuntary deviant sexual contact with a minor. At first, he was accused of 14 crimes.
Without acknowledging guilt, a no-contest plea acknowledges that the prosecution has sufficient evidence to convict.
The allegation of involuntary deviant sexual relations alone carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in jail for Ruth, 75. Judge Deborah Curcillo will hear the sentence hearing on June 9.
In 2022, Ruth was accused of molesting a girl beginning when she was around five years old. Ruth allegedly abused the child and coerced her into having intercourse with him until September 2005, when she was sixteen, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
After visiting Eddie’s Furniture in 2019 with a friend and their 3-year-old child, the victim—who is now a woman—told authorities she felt obligated to report the abuse. According to court filings, she had major worries and brought up the assaults she claimed to have experienced when she saw Ruth with the child.
According to the complaint, Ruth allegedly responded, “Because you wanted me,” when the lady asked him why he mistreated her.
In court filings, Susquehanna Township police stated that detectives used the woman’s interviews to support her assertions. Why it took three years after the woman’s original report for charges to be brought is unknown.
After operating on the 200 block of South Cameron Street for 50 years, Eddie’s Furniture shuttered earlier this year. Since then, Eddie’s Clothing Store, where he sold his clothes, has been sold.
Crime and court news
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