CATAWISSA -- Matthew Mausteller of Catawissa faces 198 charges, including child rape. He is accused of having sexual contact with two young girls.
Police say Mausteller forced a 6-year-old and an 11-year-old to touch him inappropriately and he allegedly touched them, too. Mausteller was arraigned Thursday morning in Catawissa.
Mausteller, 24, of Catawissa is accused of having sexual contact with two young girls in a development in Catawissa. Mausteller faces close to 200 charges, including rape of a child.
"Really didn't surprise me on what I heard about him."
"It didn't surprise you?"
"Nope. None whatsoever," Billy Rhone said.
Some of Mausteller's neighbors heard about his arrest and say it upsets them to live so close to someone accused of such horrible crimes.
"It's shocking. I have two little girls and it's kind of scary," Ashley Brown said.
According to court paperwork, the two girls, ages 6 and 11, said Mausteller forced them to touch his private parts and he touched them inappropriately. Police say the child asked Mausteller if he was trying to rape her. Mausteller allegedly said, "No but trust me, if I wanted to, I would."
But Mausteller told police he tripped and fell on top of the child. He told cops he was wrestling with the girls and that it happened close to 50 times.
"It is devastating knowing what could happen, whether it did or not, nobody really knows for sure, but if it did it's really scary," Kayla Brown said.
The people who live at Hillside Village tell Newswatch 16 it is especially concerning because a lot of these apartments have small children living in them.
"There are kids all over the place in just about every apartment here. For that to be going on, it's scary," Ashley Brown said.
Matthew Mausteller is in the Columbia County Jail.