79-Year-Old Phoenixville Man Pleads Guilty to Sexually Assaulting Teen

Donald Schnovel, the 79-year-old Phoenixville man who was arrested in February on charges of sexually assaulting and taking pornographic photos of a 14-year-old girl, entered a guilty plea on Wednesday afternoon, The Mercury is reporting.

Schnovel pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts of aggravated indecent assault, and additional counts of sexual abuse of children, corruption of minors, and endangering the welfare of children.

After he is evaluated by Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender’s Assessment Board, Schnovel will be sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison, plus five years of probation.

“You may die in prison, do you understand that?” Chester County Senior Judge Ronald Nagle asked the defendant at one point.

“Yes…I will,” Schnovel answered.

According to the paper, in attendance at the sentencing was a woman who Schnovel was convicted of sexually abusing in 1972. She audibly wept during the proceedings and commiserated with his most recent victim after he entered his plea.

As reported by Phoenixville Patch, on November 21, 2011, a 14-year-old girl told a corporal with the Phoenixville Police Department that Schnovel, a family friend, had, in a series of assaults spanning the previous summer, performed numerous sexual acts with her; each in his red Ford Mustang, and on one occasion in the parking lot of Phoenixville Hospital.

Schnovel later admitted to police that he had kissed the girl, taken pictures of her, sexually penetrated her with his finger, and offered her $5 to perform oral sex on him.