Scranton resident charged with third degree sexual abuse of sleeping minor

By Brandon Hurley
Managing Editor
News@beeherald.com

A Scranton man has been arrested for allegeldy sexually assaulting a family babysiter.

Kaleb Lentz, 28, of Scranton was charged and arrested for third degree sexual abuse Aug. 24 stemming from an incident in June involving a sleeping babysitter.
Lentz allegedly sexually assaulted the person who he had tasked with babysitting his young children. The teenage victim said they awoke around 11 p.m. June 8 with Lentz having removed their clothes and performing an unwanted sexual act. The teenager – who was 17 at the time of the incident – was at Lentz’s home taking care of his children while he was out before going to bed with the kids. Lentz’s wife was apparently on vacation, according to police reports. The victim allegedly woke up with the kids no longer in the bedroom, but on the couch. The victim awoke with Lentz allegedly in the process of the alleged sex abuse. The victim said, according to court documents, they were afraid to confront Lentz and try to force him to stop due to a past history of angry and violent behavior. The victim waited until they felt it was safe to leave the residence before departing the home, court documents say. The victim then returned home and shared what had happened with their parents.

Charges weren’t officially handed out at the time of the incident report – which the victim filed a day later on June 9 – due to necessary processing of Division of Criminal Investigation lab results.
Lentz was interviewed by an officer on June 9, asking if he had conducted sexual relations with the victim, which he denied. Law enforcement proceeded to search Lentz’s residence and also retrieved a DNA sample, though no arrest was made at the time, court documents say.  
When the lab results from the rape kit were returned on Aug. 3, Lentz’s DNA was found on the sample from the victim.

Officers then were issued an arrest warrant on Aug. 24 and placed Lentz in the county jail that same day.
Lentz has been in trouble with the law prior to his most recent incident.

He was handed a deferred judgment for an assault charge back in 2012. He was sentenced to one year probation for assault with intent to inflict serious injury while two counts of fifth degree criminal mischief were later dismissed. He also was convicted of fourth degree criminal mischief in 2012, but his one year prison sentence was suspended.

Lentz was arrested for OWI in Jefferson in 2019. His blood alcohol content registered at 0.179 percent at the time of the arrest.
No trial date for the third degree sexual abuse charge has been set.