Former Prospect councilman sentenced for touching boy
A former Prospect councilman was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation for inappropriately touching a boy multiple times.
David Stellfox, 73, of Prospect, pleaded guilty Feb. 4 to misdemeanor corruption of a minor and indecent exposure. In exchange, Assistant District Attorney Terri Schultz agreed to drop identical felony charges.
Butler County Common Pleas Judge William Shaffer sentenced Stellfox. The victim's family attended the sentencing but declined to read the impact statements they had written.
Before he was sentenced, Stellfox turned to the victim's family and apologized.
“I deeply regret the whole situation,” Stellfox said.
Assistant District Attorney Mark Lope, standing in for Schultz, said the family approved of the plea deal.
Records from the Butler County Bureau of Elections show Stellfox was appointed to Prospect Borough council in February 2010 and served until 2011. He then was elected to serve from 2011 to 2015.
Butler state police filed charges against Stellfox three years later in January 2018. He was held in Butler County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bond before posting bail in early February 2018, according to court documents.
Police said a forensic interview was conducted by the Butler County Child Advocacy Center with an 11-year-old boy, who reported that Stellfox inappropriately touched him and forced him to inappropriately touch Stellfox, according to the affidavit.
The boy said the incidents occurred about 10 times per year over a two- to three-year period, according to the document. The victim also said Stellfox told him not to tell anyone about the incidents.
Stellfox admitted some contact with the boy on several occasions, police said.
“Stellfox said he was experiencing uncontrollable impulses when these incidents occurred and knew his actions were wrong,” Trooper Christopher Balcik wrote in an affidavit.
