Halle held for court on sexual assault charges
Charges were held for court Monday, May 20, against William “Bill” Halle alleging he had a sexual relationship last year with a then-17-year-old girl who worked for the faith-based nonprofit organization he ran.
District Judge William Fullerton ordered the charges to be held for court following a preliminary hearing. The charges are felonies sexual assault by a volunteer or employee of a nonprofit, corruption of minors, criminal use of a communication facility and criminal solicitation, and a misdemeanor count of corruption of minors.
Halle, 59, a former member of the Butler Area School District board, is being held in the county jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, which Fullerton set when the charges were filed in March.
Butler police filed the charges in March after similar charges were dismissed in January in Common Pleas Court, where the case proceeded even though the alleged victim refused to testify against Halle at a preliminary hearing in July 2023. Both sets of charges stem to the same set of allegations.
The girl worked as the manager of the Net Cafe Center, which was part of the now-closed Grace Youth and Family Foundation in Butler, and was in the physical training and nutrition program under Halle’s supervision, according to testimony.
On May 1, 2023, police received a ChildLine report from a county detective saying Butler Township police responded to a call from a resident around 8:30 p.m. April 29 reporting Halle and the girl were being intimate while sitting on a curb, according to the affidavit.
City police said township police and the girl’s father found text messages of a sexual nature between Halle and the girl on the girl’s phone, according to the affidavit.
During a forensic interview May 2 at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Butler County, the girl admitted to having intercourse with Halle and to sending the text messages, according to the affidavit.
A forensic analysis of the girl’s phone found multiple sexually explicit messages sent between her and Halle, according to the affidavit.
Detective Eric Klopfer testified Monday that the messages included a draft of a letter Halle wrote to the victim’s stepmother asking for permission to buy her a small refrigerator for her healthy meals. The letter sent April 8, he said.
Through forensic interviews, Klopfer said he discovered two sexual encounters between Halle and the girl. One was an “attempted” encounter on April 9, which was Easter, and an actual encounter on April 12, he said.
Ann Ireland, former secretary of the foundation’s board, testified that the girl was one of as many as 25 independent contractors who worked at the Net Cafe.
Ireland said Halle began running the training and nutrition program, which was part of the Battleground Fitness program, in 2023 after his son left the organization for another job, but he didn’t tell the board he bought the girl a refrigerator.
First National Bank initiated bankruptcy proceedings against the foundation in 2021 after Halle stopped making loan payments, Ireland said.
He halted a number of programs in 2021, but maintained the Battleground Fitness program, she said.
She said all board members resigned on April 30, 2023, after Halle refused to show them an expense report and because he wouldn’t resign.
