A man recently granted a new trial after serving 27 years in prison on a rape conviction was arrested Thursday on new charges that he sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl known to the victim's family in McKees Rocks.
The assault allegedly happened the same night John Kunco was released from jail, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
According to the criminal complaint, the girl, referred to as Jane Doe, told police
she awoke to Kunco assaulting her. When she asked him to stop he didn't, according to the complaint.
Kunco was found guilty of rape and other charges for a 1990 attack on a woman in her New Kensington home. He was sentenced to serve 45 to 90 years in prison.
The Innocence Project took on his case. New DNA evidence convinced a judge to grant Kunco another trial. He was released from jail in May.
He is now being held without bail in the Allegheny County Jail on numerous counts of crimes against a child and is awaiting a preliminary hearing later this month, according to investigators.
A team of attorneys from the Innocence Project said Kunco voluntarily turned himself into police and denies the recent allegations.
Karen Thompson, senior attorney with the Innocence Project, released the following statement:
"Mr. Kunco denies these allegations and has, and will continue to, fully cooperate with the police. These allegations have absolutely no relation to Mr. Kunco's 1991 conviction that was recently vacated based on DNA and other evidence proving his innocence."
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