Published: April 17, 2009 08:58 pm      

Local man indicted for fondling young girl

Somerset — A man who was indicted by a grand jury for allegedly touching a young girl inappropriately appeared in Pulaski Circuit Court Thursday.

Ernest A. Jackson, 18, of Waynesburg, was indicted last week by a Pulaski County Grand Jury Wednesday on one count of first-degree sexual abuse “by having sexual contact with ... a minor through the use of forcible compulsion.”

According to Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jeremy Bartley, the prosecuting attorney on the case, Jackson approached the victim, a 12-year-old girl, outside the Somerset branch of the Pulaski County Public Library on February 27 and grabbed her in the chest area in an inappropriate manner.

Bartley said the victim did not know Jackson.

“This is the proverbial stranger you’re supposed to stay away from,” Bartley said.

Bartley said a security camera at the library captured images of the man and the girl, who was at the library with an older sister. The camera didn’t catch the actual incident.

The victim and her sister then ran into the library and alerted staff members. The family soon filed a complaint with authorities.

Jackson reportedly remained in the area, and he was arrested at a later time.

Bartley said Jackson was also facing similar charges in Lincoln County. Jackson allegedly grabbed another young girl at Wal-Mart in Lincoln County.

“The two were very similar,” Bartley said.

During Thursday’s pro-ceedings Jackson appear-ed before Pulaski Circuit Judge Jeffrey T. Burdette and pleaded not guilty to the charge. A pretrial hearing is set for sometime in May.

Jackson is being held on a $50,000 cash bond.