Beaver County Woman Faces Prison Term

A Monaca woman convicted of felony statutory sexual assault and intimidation of a witness was sentenced to 4-8 years in a state correctional facility. Tonya Palmer, 41 pled guilty in an open plea for sexually assaulting a 14 year old boy with emotional disabilities. Palmer’s public defender asked for leniency in sentencing given testimony that Palmer provided in her allocution statement to the court. In that statement Palmer expressed remorse and regret and outlined her own personal battles with depression, anxiety and PTSD. She also revealed that she too was sexually assaulted as a teenager. Palmer never graduated from high school and blamed her emotional issues for assaulting the victim. The victim’s mother testified that her son who was once outgoing and friendly now lives in fear and is no longer trusting of other people. Judge Valerie Costanzo levied a sentence of 1-2 years for statutory sexual assault and 3-6 years for intimidation of a witness with those sentences running consecutively. A 1-3 month sentence for indecent assault will be served concurrently. Palmer will be eligible for parole and must register as a sex offender. Palmer was led away by sheriff’s deputies at the conclusion of the hearing.