Ross Township Man Pleads Not Guilty to Touching Girl Inappropriately

to charges that he touched a young girl inappropriately on two occasions.

Leetsale Magisterial District Judge Robert Ford ordered Brian Horlick, 46, to stand trial on all charges in the case involving the 14-year-old girl. He is charged with one count of aggravated assault and two counts each of indecent assault and endangering the welfare of children.

Horlick didn’t testify and offered no comment after the hearing on Tuesday. The girl, now 14, testified she was 7 when Horlick first touched her inappropriately during the two years he dated her mother. Patch does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.

The girl lived with her grandfather and would visit her mother on the weekends at her great-grandmother’s house in Franklin Park. She said during one particular visit, Horlick also came over and ended up staying the night.

She testified that she spent the night sleeping between her mother and Horlick on the floor and awoke to find Horlick’s hands in her pajama pants. She said she shoved his hand away and that Horlick attempted to touch her again. When she pushed his hand away a second time, she testified, he rolled over on his side, and she fell back asleep. 

Under questioning from Michael Foglia, Horlick’s attorney, the girl said she didn't say a word at the time and never woke her mother.

In the morning, she said, she did tell her mother, who she said didn't believe her. 

“She said I was silly and I was lying,” the girl testified.

She testified that the second incident happened when she was 9 visiting her mother and Horlick at his home in Ross. The girl said she retired to a back bedroom and Horlick followed her into the room. She said Horlick sat on the bed beside her and began rubbing her thighs over her jeans while her mother was off in the kitchen.

Foglia asked Judge Ford to drop the two child endangerment charges and reduce the felony assault charge to misdemeanor indecent assault pertaining to allegations when the girl was 9. 

Foglia said there wasn't sufficient evidence to charge felony assault and said Horlick wasn't the girl's parent or guardian, and should not be charged with child endangerment.

Prosecutor Nicholas A. Creany argued the girl didn’t have a father figure in her life when the alleged incident happened and that Horlick was a "father-like figure," based on testimony from the girl that Horlick took her places, such as Kennywood, sometimes baby-sat her, and slept with her on the floor. He said touching her thighs was "totally unsolicited." 

"It's clearly very inappropriate, touching someone on their thighs near their genitals," he said. 

The girl said the last time she saw Horlick was five years ago, when he stopped dating her mom. When she was 10, the girl began living with her biological father in Pittsburgh. Franklin Park police reported that she told her father of the alleged incidents in December. 

Horlick was released from Allegheny County Jail March 20 after posting  $25,000 straight bond.