PENN TWP — A Cabot man was ordered on Tuesday to be held for court on charges alleging he raped a 14-year-old girl when she was 11 in Penn Township, and was arraigned on other charges involving another juvenile girl filed by Buffalo Township police.

Michael G. Saunders, 48, was held for court on felony charges of rape of a child, four counts of aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault and corruption of minors, and misdemeanor charges of indecent exposure and two counts of indecent assault at a preliminary hearing by District Judge Jack Ripper.

Saunders posted $500,000 bail a day after he was arraigned on those charges on Sept. 17, but he was returned to the county prison after Ripper arraigned him on the Buffalo Township charges and set his bail at $50,000 in that case.

In the Penn Township case, the alleged victim testified for about a half hour in a closed “in camera” hearing in which Assistant District Attorney Laura Pitchford, defense attorney Dennis Marion Jr., a court reporter and Ripper were the only other people present.

The main testimony in open court was a video recording of an Aug. 26 forensic interview with the alleged victim at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Butler County.

In the recording, the girl said Saunders put his hand under her shirt and then said he was sorry and didn’t mean to do that.

On another occasion, she said he removed her shorts and touched her inappropriately.

Then on a separate occasion, she said he raped her. She said Saunders also put his hands under her shirt at other times. The incidents took place about a month before she turned 12, but she didn’t tell anyone about the incidents for about a year, she said in the recording.

Penn Township Police Officer Jeremy Walters testified that he received a ChildLine report about the sexual abuse of a minor, and the report also was forwarded to Butler County Children and Youth Services and the Child Advocacy Center.

He said he based the charges he filed against Saunders on what the girl said in the interview.

In the Buffalo Township case, Saunders has been charged with felony corruption of minors and misdemeanor indecent assault of a person under 16.

According to a police affidavit, a juvenile girl said in a Sept. 24 interview at the Child Advocacy Center that Saunders put his hand under her shirt and placed it on her stomach in October 2023 in Sarver.