DEFENDANT PLEADS TO RAPE, SEX CRIMES. Weatherwalk faces 10 to 20 years in prison

July 27, 2020
Kay Stephens
Altoona Mirror

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A 20-year-old Altoona man is facing 10 to 20 years in prison after rendering guilty pleas Friday in Blair County Court to rape and related sex crimes involving three girls in 2019.
Dylan Patrick Weatherwalk was expected to go on trial in August but advised President Judge Elizabeth Doyle on Friday that he would render guilty pleas for the recommended sentence.
When Doyle asked Weatherwalk if anyone was forcing him to render his pleas, Weatherwalk shook his head no. The young man also told the judge that he understood that he had the option of a trial.
“He’s been incarcerated a little more than a year,” defense attorney John Siford told Doyle, indicating that when Weatherwalk is sentenced, he should be credited for the time served.
First Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith, who was scheduled to take Weatherwalk’s cases to trial, said Weatherwalk’s pleas will require him, for the rest of his life, to register his address and related information with state police.
Altoona police initially filed charges against Weatherwalk in mid-July 2019 based on allegations of a 16-year-old girl who said Weatherwalk choked and raped her on the night of June 30 after they had been hanging out with friends. The girl said he took her to a house on the 4000 block of Fourth Avenue where he raped her and kept her from leaving until the next morning.
The girl also acknowledged, police said, that she and Weatherwalk dated for about a year, before she broke up with him in May 2019 because he was verbally and mentally abusive.
Police filed additional charges against Weatherwalk in late July 2019, accusing him in the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl and for allegedly sending a nude photo of himself to an 11-year-old girl.
The 14-year-old girl told police that she met Weatherwalk outside her house on May 5, 2018, where he attempted to kiss, grope and hug her. When he briefly stopped, the girl told police they started walking and Weatherwalk led her to an abandoned house. There, the girl said Weatherwalk grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into the house and took her up to the second floor where he raped her.
Police said the 11-year old, through an older girl, met Weatherwalk, who sent her a nude photo of himself in a text message. She said she responded by asking him why he would send her a picture like that. The girl said she later got a message from Weatherwalk, asking if she was going to tell someone about the photo he sent.

https://www.altoonamirror.com/news/local-news/2020/07/defendant-pleads-to-rape-sex-crimes/

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