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High School Football Capsules: Week 1

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; City police charged a man they allege lured a boy into his residence with cash and instructed the child to take off his clothes.</p><p>Michael David Sharrah, 57, of 104 Poplar St., Wilkes-Barre, allegedly gave the boy $20 to go inside his house where he led him to a bed in the basement.</p><p>There, Sharrah told the boy to remove his clothes, police allege.</p><p>Two teenagers inside the house overheard Sharrah and saved the boy telling him to leave.</p><p>The incident inside the house happened Aug. 17, a day after Sharrah lured the boy onto the porch and groped him on Aug. 16, court records say.</p><p>Sharrah was arraigned Thursday night by District Judge Christopher C. Christopher in Shickshinny on two counts of corruption of minors and one count each of luring a child and indecent assault. He was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $125,000 bail.</p><p>Police filed the charges after the boy was questioned by a forensic interviewer at the Children&#8217;s Advocacy Center in Scranton.</p><p>According to the criminal complaint:</p><p>Police on Aug. 17 responded to the area of Poplar and New Grove streets on a report a boy was sexually assaulted.</p><p>During the forensic interview, the boy said he was walking on Poplar Street when an adult male later identified as Sharrah called him onto the porch. He started playing a card game with Sharrah and two other people who told &#8220;uncle&#8221; to stop touching the boy.</p><p>The boy remembered seeing a sign on the front door that stated, &#8220;No Stupid People&#8221; and identified Sharrah by his first name Michael who had dark makeup around his eyes.</p><p>Police said the boy claimed one of the other people on the porch took him inside the house and told the boy to go home because Sharrah was drunk and is not a nice person when intoxicated.</p><p>The next day, Aug. 17, the boy said Sharrah offered him $20 &#8220;if he did all that stuff&#8221; and took the boy to the basement. While in the basement, Sharrah told the boy, &#8220;to take off your clothes,&#8221; the complaint says.</p><p>A few minutes later, Sharrah&#8217;s nephew asked what was going on and led the boy outside the residence.</p><p>Police interviewed a 18-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl who was at Sharrah&#8217;s residence on Aug. 16 and Aug. 17.</p><p>The elder teen told police Sharrah gets crazy when he gets drunk and flirts with everyone. He recalled Sharrah on Aug. 16 called the boy onto the porch, whispered something and attempted to grab the boy below the waist.</p><p>The next day, Aug. 17, the elder teen told police he was playing video games when the 16-year-old girl told him Sharrah took the boy to the basement. The elder teen claimed he overheard Sharrah telling the boy to remove his clothes and intervened, telling the boy to leave because Sharrah is a bad person when he gets drunk, the complaint says.</p><p>The teen girl told police Sharrah wore black eyeliner when he lured the boy into the house.</p><p>Police said the boy identified Sharrah from a photo array.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_Michael-Sharrah-08232019.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Sharrah</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_Michael-Sharrah-08232019.jpg</photo0><caption0>Sharrah</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ed Lewis</p><p>elewis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Police: Man lured child into residence, tells boy to take off clothes