2 girls sexually abused by church member in 1990s, PA officials say. He’s charged
A 5-year-old girl and a girl under 10 years old were sexually abused by a member of a Jehovah’s Witness congregation in the 1990s, Pennsylvania prosecutors said.
The pattern of abuse started in 1989 when Timothy Willochell targeted the 5-year-old during holiday visits in Westmoreland County, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office said in a July 9 news release. Until 1992, on at least four separate occasions, he followed her to the bathroom and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.
Willochell targeted the other girl at a campsite twice between 1993 and 1997, prosecutors said.
Now, the 54-year-old is indicted on multiple charges, including aggravated indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and corruption of minors, according to the attorney general’s office.
“This defendant preyed on two children, waiting for opportunities to assault them when they were alone and at their most vulnerable,” Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a statement.
The charges stem from a yearslong sexual abuse investigation into members of Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations in Pennsylvania, prosecutors said.
Officials said Willochell is the 17th member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses to be indicted since the investigation started in 2022.
A judge set Willochell’s bail at $170,000 during his July 9 arraignment, according to prosecutors. He is scheduled to appear in court on July 21.
Westmoreland County is about a 45-mile drive southeast from Pittsburgh.
This story was originally published July 10, 2025 at 10:02 AM with the headline "2 girls sexually abused by church member in 1990s, PA officials say. He’s charged."
