LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa.– A Lancaster man is set to serve up to 30 years in prison for the rape and beating of a woman that occurred three years ago in Lancaster City.
Robert Pitt, 21, plead guilty to charges earlier this year after DNA connected him to the crime scene. Pitt, who was 17 at the time of the crime, was tried as an adult.
Pitt was a stranger to the victim, who he grabbed and forced behind a store where he assaulted and stole her cell phone.
Eventually, the victim was able to run away.
According to Assistant District Attorney Karen Mansfield, Pitt provided the stolen cell phone to another man. That man heard a voicemail message from the victim’s father, which prompted him to contact the victim and return the phone, which was eventually turned over to police.
It was through that phone that police were able to link Pitt to the crime via DNA.
Lancaster County Judge Jeffrey Wright, while ordering the sentence Thursday, called the victim “a hero” for her strength and commitment to hold her attacker accountable.
“He may have chosen you to be a victim of this crime,” Judge Wright told the woman, seated in the courtroom gallery, “But by being here today, seeing this through to the end, you won.
“Your actions give strength to other (sexual-assault victims) to do the same.”
Pitt, now 21, apologized for the crime, saying that he was a juvenile at the time and addicted to drugs. Pitt also said he wants to “overcome his demons.”
Now, Pitt will serve 11-30 years for the August 2014 rape.
