Courts. (Credit: Flickr/Creative Commons)
On Jan. 20, 2025, John Randall Scott, of the 1000 block of Franklin Street in Reading, walked into the Pennsylvania State Police barracks and confessed
On Jan. 20, 2025, John Randall Scott, 45, of the 1000 block of Franklin Street in Reading, walked into the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in his town and admitted to raping a then 6-year-old Lansdale girl and her sister 14 years ago.
Now, Scott awaits sentencing after pleading guilty in Montgomery County court Thursday to more than 25 felony counts of rape of a child, as well as solicitation of rape of a child, intimidation of a witness, endangering the welfare of children, and corruption of minors, according to court records.
The rapes occurred between 2007 and 2010, when the victim and her sister were in the company of Scott in a home on the 600 block of South Broad Street, according to The Mercury. The girls were aged two and seven at the time.
Scott told one of the victims he would kill her pet cat if she ever told anyone of the rapes, according to the report. “We don’t tell anyone our secrets,” he told one girl, saying not to tell her mother about the incidents.
“Scott wanted to confess due to feelings of stress and guilt, and added people were talking about the incident and wanted to provide the correct information,” Lansdale Detective Joel Greco wrote in the criminal complaint, according to The Mercury.
Regardless of the sentence that Scott eventually receives, he faces a lifetime requirement to report his address to state police under Megan’s Law, according to the report.
“I’m admitting to what I did,” Scott told Judge Steven T. O’Neill as he pleaded guilty to the charges, according to the report.
Scott, who potentially faces 10 to 20 years in prison on the 25 rape charges, will remain in the county jail without bail while awaiting his sentencing hearing.
