LANCASTER, Pa. — A 30-year-old Maryland man will serve up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to the sexual assault of a 13-year-old Lancaster County girl in 2020, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Mirza Ahmed, of Catonsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty to 14 offenses related to the incident in March 2022. He was sentenced to a prison term of eight to 20 years at a hearing before Lancaster County Judge Dennis Reinaker on Dec. 22.
Ahmed pleaded guilty to two charges of statutory sexual assault, two charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two charges of aggravated indecent assault, two charges of indecent assault, two charges of unlawful contact with a minor, two charges of corruption of minors, one charge of photographing/filming/depicting a sex act with a minor and one charge of disseminating a photographed/filmed sex act with a minor, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office said.
Assistant District Attorney Fritz Haverstick, who prosecuted the case, pointed out that Ahmed's crimes were “as intentional, premeditated, and planned as you can get.”
Ahmed's defense attorney argued he had head trauma as a child and acts impulsively.
According to evidence presented by Haverstick,on December 19, 2020, East Lampeter Township Police met with the mother of the victim who relayed she discovered her 13-year-old daughter to be in a sexual relationship with Ahmed, whom she had met online.
Ahmed had traveled from New York to Columbia to pick up the victim and took her to a room at the Spruce Lane Lodge and Cottages on two occasions in November and December of 2020, prosecutors said.
Ahmed asked the victim to bring a friend on the second occasion, who witnessed the assaults.
Police arrested Ahmed when he traveled to Lancaster a third time to meet the victim in February 2021, according to prosecutors.
Cell phone and hotel records showed lewd text messages between Ahmed and the victim, and that Ahmed rented the hotel room.
The defendant filmed certain sex acts and sent them to the victim, prosecutors said.
An East Lampeter Township detective filed charges.
