BUCKS COUNTY COURTS

‘Despicable person’: Man gets state prison sentence for rape of Bucks County teenager in 2023

The defendant must register for life as a sexually violent predator.

Miguel Sanchez, 33, of Sellersville.

The defendant must register for life as a sexually violent predator.

  • Courts

A Sellersville man who must register for life as a sexually violent predator with the state has been sentenced Monday to 12½ to 25 years in state prison for raping a teenager in October 2023 by Bucks County Common Pleas Judge Stephen Corr, who called the defendant “a despicable person” for his criminal behavior.

Court records show Miguel Angel Sanchez, 33, plead no contest on May 20 to felony rape by forcible compulsion and felony trafficking individuals by recruiting, enticing, or solicitation, and misdemeanor corruption of minors, per court records.

A no contest plea means Sanchez know the evidence against him was sufficient to convict him at trial, according to The Mercury.

According to court records, Sanchez was not prosecuted on 19 other offenses, including felony charges of statutory sexual assault on an individual under 11, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion, unlawful contact with a minor, trafficking of individuals, sexual assault, unlawful restraint of a minor, false imprisonment of a minor, aggravated indecent assault without consent, criminal solicitation of child pornography, and corruption of minors.

According to the article, the victim and her mother made statements to Sanchez, describing him as “pure evil.”

Police said an investigation into Sanchez began on Oct. 24, 2023 when Quakertown Police took a report of a rape that allegedly occurred the prior evening in the parking lot of the Giant Food Store located along the 1400 block of West Broad Street.

Police said the victim claimed she had been raped inside of Sanchez’s vehicle, which she described as a white, four-door vehicle.

Investigators said the victim had met with Sanchez on one prior occasion, at which point they exchanged contact information through Snapchat. During their conversations, Sanchez allegedly offered the victim and her friend money in exchange for videos of them nude and performing sex acts, according to the release.

Per the article, Sanchez also communicated via Snapchat with the victim’s 16-year-old friend, asking for sex videos in exchange for money.

Surveillance footage from the area of the Giant Food Store showed Sanchez’s vehicle in the parking lot at the time of the rape, police said.

The district attorney’s office said Sanchez was on bail at the time of the incident, and a review of court records by this news organization showed he was arrested on Aug. 19, 2022, on charges of strangulation, unlawful restraint, indecent assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, and false imprisonment, stemming from an incident that occurred on June 22, 2022, in Pottstown Borough.

Court records show Sanchez was initially placed in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in lieu of 10% of $50,000 cash bail, however bail was changed to $50,000 unsecured on Oct. 18, 2022, which was five days after he waived his preliminary hearing.


author

Tony Di Domizio

Tony Di Domizio is the Managing Editor of NorthPennNow, PerkValleyNow, and CentralBucksNow, and a staff writer for WissNow. Email him at [email protected]. Tony graduated from Kutztown University and went on to serve as a reporter and editor for various news organizations, including Patch/AOL, The Reporter in Lansdale, Pa., and The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa. He was born and raised in and around Lansdale and attended North Penn High School. Lansdale born. St. Patrick's Day, 1980.

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