CLARION CO., Pa. (EYT) — A plea hearing is scheduled for next week for a Clarion man facing charges in two cases, one involving rape and assault and another from an alleged burglary.
Court documents indicate 43-year-old Kenneth Wayne Rudolph is scheduled to stand for two plea hearings in front of President Judge Sara J. Seidle-Patton at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 7.
In the first case, he faces the following charges:
– Rape Forcible Compulsion, Felony 1 (20 counts)
– Rape Threat Of Forcible Compulsion, Felony 1 (20 counts)
– Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse Forcible Compulsion, Felony 1 (20 counts)
– Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse Threat Forcible Compulsion, Felony 1 (20 counts)
– Sexual Assault, Felony 2 (20 counts)
– Bigamy, Misdemeanor 2
He also faces the following charges in the second case:
– Burglary — Overnight Accommodation, No Person Present, Felony 1
– Criminal Trespass-Enter Structure, Felony 3
– Theft By Unlawful Taking-Movable Property, Felony 3
– Receiving Stolen Property, Felony 3
He is currently lodged in the Clarion County Jail.
Details of rape case:
According to a criminal complaint filed on August 24, 2020, by Officer Bettwy, of the Clarion Borough Police Department, a known female victim reported that Kenneth Wayne Rudolph assaulted and raped her numerous times between July 19, 2011, and December 2016.
The complaint states the victim estimated the rapes and corresponding assaults occurred at least twenty times over the course of the reported time span, nearly always when Rudolph was inebriated.
According to the complaint, the victim reported that the physical assaults left her with marks, bruises, and occasionally scratches. She also stated she was terrified of him.
During the course of the investigation, Clarion Borough Police discovered that although Rudolph was married in Clarion County in November 2011, he was also married to a second woman in California in 2001, as well as a third woman in Alabama in 1998.
Rudolph was interviewed on June 25, 2019, regarding the bigamy accusations.
He reportedly admitted to marrying the woman in Alabama, but said he left due to “noncompatible lifestyles.” He told police she said she was going to divorce him but “apparently never did.” He also admitted to marrying the woman in California but said he didn’t think the marriage was valid because she cheated on him with the minister the same day, according to the complaint.
Police say records show the three marriages occurred as explained above, but no divorces are on record in any state, the complaint states.
The complaint also notes Rudolph denied forcing the victim to perform any sexual acts with him and also denied ever hurting her or forcing her to do anything she did not want to do, according to the complaint.
Rudolph was arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Duane L. Quinn at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 25.
EDITOR’S NOTE 1: Extreme graphic details were not included due to the sexual nature of the alleged crimes.
EDITOR’S NOTE 2: Several details were removed from this article to help protect the identity of the victim.
Details of burglary case:
According to a criminal complaint, Clarion Borough Police initiated an investigation into a report of a break-in at an apartment on Leatherwood Drive on May 24, 2020.
The victim reported he left his apartment around 5:00 p.m. and returned around 11:30 p.m. to find a hammer leaning against his door. He then discovered it appeared that someone pried his front door open with the hammer.
The victim told police he went inside and then found a black safe was missing from his bedroom closet. The victim reported he had approximately $2,000.00 in the safe along with important documents.
The complaint notes the victim specifically stated his apartment had been locked. He also noted the money stolen was mostly comprised of $100 bills with some $20 bills and stated that the safe also contained his medical marijuana.
According to the complaint, on September 25, a known witness was being interviewed in relation to another incident when the witness provided information about Kenneth Wayne Rudolph stealing a safe from the victim that contained money and two bags of marijuana.
The complaint notes Chief William Peck, of the Clarion Borough Police, then verified that the victim had reported a burglary regarding a safe containing money that had been stolen.
On September 30, police interviewed a known female who reported that on May 24, between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., Rudolph came to her apartment and was banging on the front door.
The woman told police that Rudolph continued to knock on her door for approximately 20 to 30 minutes when she finally let him in. She reported when she let him in, he was carrying a black safe, a red and black crowbar, and a hammer. She stated that Rudolph then went into her bedroom and opened the safe using the crowbar and the hammer, then walked back out with the open safe.
According to the complaint, the woman said she saw the safe contained money and two bags of marijuana. She stated that Rudolph told her he “did a lick” and stole the safe from the victim. She also reported Rudolph made her count the money, which she said totaled “$1,900 and some change, close to $2,000.”
The woman stated Rudolph was nervous that he committed the crime and wanted to stay at a motel. She then drove him to a motel in Monroe Township, where he paid for a room for the night, taking the safe, the money, and the marijuana with them.
On September 30, police went to the motel and verified Rudolph did obtain a room around 11:02 p.m. on May 24. Police also received information that Rudolph is no longer permitted to stay at the hotel because of smoking marijuana in the room, according to the complaint.
The woman also told police that after they checked out on May 25, Rudolph made her throw the safe in a dumpster on a back street in Clarion Borough, somewhere around the area of Greenville Avenue.
Police served a search warrant at Rudolph’s Leatherwood Drive residence on September 30, and they found a red and black crowbar.
Rudolph was then interviewed on October 2.
According to the complaint, Rudolph denied breaking into the victim’s apartment and taking the safe but did admit to being at the known woman’s apartment between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on May 24. He also denied having a safe, hammer, or crowbar with him at the woman’s apartment and said it was the known woman’s idea to get a hotel room that night. He also told police it was the woman who was smoking marijuana in the hotel room and that the crowbar found in his apartment did not belong to him. He stated that the last time he saw the crowbar, it was at the woman’s apartment.
Rudolph told police he believed that someone was “setting him up” to make it look like he broke into the apartment, the complaint notes.
Rudolph was arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Duane L. Quinn at 10:50 a.m. on Tuesday, October 13, 2020.
