Man accused of raping girl, 13, at camp during family reunion

An Ohio man has been charged with raping a 13-year-old girl at a camp in Victory Township on Sunday.

Franklin state police said in a criminal complaint they were called to the camp along Old Route 8 at about 7:30 a.m. Sunday for the reported rape.

A man said he had seen Samuel Hollenberger, 45, of Cortland, Ohio, who is his relative, sitting at a picnic table in a garage on the property with the girl and her brother at about 4:30 a.m., so he went and visited with them and then went back to bed, the complaint said.

The same relative said he had got up at about 6:30 a.m. and heard a car horn on the far side of the garage, the complaint said.

When he went around the garage he saw Hollenberger’s truck parked nearby and two people in the truck putting their shirts on and he wondered who they were since everyone was at camp for a family reunion, the complaint said.

He told Hollenberger’s aunt that he thought he saw Hollenberger and the 13-year-old girl in Hollenberger’s truck, the complaint said. She told him to get the girl out of the truck, which he did, according to the complaint.

The girl ran to Hollenberger’s aunt and started crying, and she told the aunt and her daughter that Hollenberger had sex with her and she later told another woman the same thing, the complaint said.

Meanwhile Hollenberger drove away in his truck after the relative who saw them in the truck told him he was going to wake up the girl’s father, the complaint said.

Hollenberger told several relatives over the phone that he didn’t rape the girl, his life was ruined and he threatened to kill himself, according to the complaint.

The nurse who examined the girl at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh said the girl told her Hollenberger asked her to go with him to his truck to look for a lighter and when she got into his truck he told her “he couldn’t help himself” and raped her, the complaint said.

The nurse also told police she observed the girl had injuries “consistent with sexual trauma,” according to the complaint.

When police spoke with Hollenberger he “denied doing anything sexual” with the girl and said he was going to speak with an attorney, the complaint said.

Hollenberger has been charged with felony counts of rape forcible compulsion, statutory sexual assault: 11 years older, unlawful contact with a minor-sexual offenses, corruption of minors-defendant age 18 or above, aggravated indecent assault- complainant less than 16 years of age, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse person less than 16 years of age, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse forcible compulsion and aggravated indecent assault-forcible compulsion, and misdemeanor counts of lure child into motor vehicle, indecent assault person less than 16 years of age and indecent assault forcible compulsion.

He was arraigned Wednesday and placed in the Venango County jail before posting $5,000 cash bail, 10% of the $50,000 he was held on.

His preliminary hearing is scheduled Aug. 11 in Central Court.