Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of a man who fled to Mexico with an underage girl who he was accused of repeatedly raping over a three-year span. Kevin Esterly, 53, of Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, is charged with rape, two counts of statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sex ual intercourse, indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age and endangering the welfare of children. Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673. On Feb. 21, 2025, Allentown Police received a report of an underage teen girl who had been repeatedly sexually assaulted between the summer of 2015 and March 2018. The victim spoke to police and told them Kevin Esterly was the stepfather of her friend and she first met him when she was 8-years-old, investigators said. The victim said she began to frequently spend time with her friend and spent weekends and summers at Esterly’s home, according to officials. The victim said her friend’s family later moved to a home in Lowhill Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The victim told police that in August 2015 – when she was 13-years-old – Esterly gave her alcohol at a family birthday party and then sexually assaulted her. She said Esterly then sexually assaulted her almost every time she slept over at his home, according to officials. The victim also accused Esterly of giving her alcohol and drugs in exchange for sex. Esterly was later arrested and then sentenced to prison after federal agents found him with the teen girl in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, in 2018. The girl was 16-years-old at the time. After being released from prison, Esterly was arrested again in West Virginia on the new charges in June 2025. He was taken into custody after two police pursuits, officials said. He was later extradited to Pennsylvania. On Monday, March 2, 2026, Esterly filed a pretrial motion to remove the Lehigh County District Attorney as a prosecutor in the case and to also have the new charges against him thrown out. Both of those motions were denied by the judge, however, and jury selection began Tuesday afternoon. ...read more read less