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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; A Luzerne County jury trial was averted as a man from Montgomery County pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a girl in Duryea for two years.
				A jury was selected late Monday to hear testimony in the trial of Shawn Booths, 43, who was facing felony charges of rape of a child, indecent assault and statutory sexual assault and misdemeanor counts of indecent assault, terroristic threats and indecent exposure.
				When it came time for the trial to begin Tuesday morning, Assistant District Attorney Brittany Quinn announced Booths opted to plead guilty to a first-degree felony charge of unlawful contact with a minor with the underlying offense of rape of a child.
				Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. accepted the plea agreement reached between prosecutors and Booths.
				The plea agreement prevents the girl from having to testify in front of the jury in open court.
				In reviewing the plea agreement, Quinn provided allegations Booths sexually assaulted the girl from January 2017 to August 2018.
				&ldquo;Are these the facts you are pleading guilty to,&rdquo; Sklarosky asked, at which, Booths replied, &ldquo;Yes, your honor.&rdquo;
				Booths remains free on $200,000 bail and is scheduled to be sentenced July 29. Sklarosky ordered a sexual offender assessment evaluation of Booths under the state&rsquo;s Megan&rsquo;s Law.
				Quinn said during the proceeding Booths will be subjected to registration of his address for 25 years after serving any prison sentence.
				Booths faces up to 25 years in prison.
				Duryea police charged Booths on Aug. 23, 2018, after investigating claims he sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl inside a residence on Main Street.
				Booths, then living on South Hyde Park Avenue in Scranton, was aware of the investigation and fled the area on Aug. 16, 2018. His whereabouts became known on Aug. 27, 2018, in Upper Providence Township in Delaware County where he was suspected of hiding out in woods.
				Law enforcement in Delaware County launched a massive search to include the state police aviation unit&rsquo;s helicopter and canines of the wooded area. He was apprehended at a residence in Collegeville in Montgomery County on Aug. 28, 2018.
				During his flight, authorities alleged Booths consumed between 25 to 50 pills and drank an unknown amount of whiskey.
				Booths said during Tuesday&rsquo;s proceeding he is diagnosed with mental illness but understood the plea agreement. A service canine accompanied Booths during the hearing.
				Attorney Evan J. Kelly represented Booths.

Man pleads guilty to sexually assaulting girl in Duryea