The district judge in the case against 40-year-old Joshua Mohlmann had taken issue with hearsay evidence.
After a delay over concerns about hearsay evidence, a sexual assault case against a Warren County teacher is headed for trial.
Joshua A. Mohlmann, center, leaves district court on Monday, June 27, 2016, with his attorney Mark Minotti. Mohlmann, of Upper Mount Bethel Township, is accused of sexually assaulting a student he had taught in the Harmony Township School District. (Pamela Sroka-Holzmann | For lehighvalleylive.com) All charges against Joshua A. Mohlmann were bound Thursday for Northampton County Court following a preliminary hearing. He will face trial unless a plea is entered or the case is disposed of in another way.
Mohlmann, 40, of the 500 block of Laurel Hill Road in Upper Mount Bethel Township, is suspended from his job as a math teacher in the Harmony Township School District while the charges are pending.
He is accused of sexually assaulting a former student from his seventh-grade class beginning in 2008 when she was 14 and he arranged for her to babysit for him at his home, according to court records.
The sexual relationship continued until March 2015 when the victim was 21 years old, Pennsylvania State Police allege.
Senior District Judge Sherwood Grigg on June 27 delayed Mohlmann's preliminary hearing because the Northampton County District Attorney's Office planned to present only hearsay evidence, not testimony from the alleged victim.
DA: Judge wrong in delaying teacher's sex assault case
District Attorney John Morganelli criticized Grigg's call, and county President Judge Stephen Baratta issued a memorandum explaining hearsay evidence may be used in preliminary hearings.
"Hearsay evidence is absolutely 100 percent admissible at preliminary hearings and there can be no dispute that this is the law," Morganelli said last month.
The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Anthony Casola, said the hearing was held Thursday with testimony solely from a state police investigator.
Mohmann remains free on $50,000 unsecured bail. His defense attorney Mark Minotti did not immediately return a call Thursday afternoon seeking comment.
The next step is a formal arraignment scheduled Sept. 29 in county court.
Mohlmann is charged with felony counts of statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse involving a victim younger than 16, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault involving a victim younger than 16 and institutional sexual assault.
He is also charged with misdemeanor endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, indecent assault on a victim younger than 16 and furnishing alcoholic beverages to a minor.
Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.