The timing of the trip would have kept the witness from testifying against the man, prosecutors say.
Greivin Estrada (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) An Upper Saucon Township man charged with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in 2013 in Phillipsburg faces a new charge of witness tampering, the Warren County Prosecutor's Office reports.
Greivin Estrada, 27, who in 2014 lived in the 4700 block of Chestnut Hill Road, offered a witness a paid-for trip to a foreign country so she wouldn't available to testify against him, the prosecutor's office said in a news release. The prosecutor's office didn't identify the victim but said she was female.
Estrada made his first appearance Friday afternoon in state Superior Court in Warren County, the prosecutor's office said.
He would face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the charge, the prosecutor's office said.
Upper Saucon man indicted in Warren on sex assault, drug charges
Bail remained the $250,000 that was set following his arrest later Dec. 31 after he was stopped in Phillipsburg with between 1 and 5 ounces of cocaine in the vehicle he was driving, authorities said.
In addition to possession with intent to deliver cocaine and possession of cocaine, Estrada is charged with aggravated sexual assault of the child in Phillipsburg, endangering the welfare of a child and eluding police. Estrada knew the child prior to the incident, authorities said.
The prosecutor's office Special Victims unit conducted the most recent investigation.
Conditions of bail include having no contact with the victim or her family.
Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.