Charges against a Shenandoah man accused of raping and impregnating a 12-year-old, then trying to obtain an abortion, are bound for Schuylkill County court.

Hector Rico, 33, faces 32 charges, including felony charges of rape of a child, aggravated indecent assault of a child, sexual assault, incest, indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old, statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors.The charges were bound to court after a preliminary hearing Thursday before District Judge Anthony Kilker of Shenandoah.The child's mother contacted police after learning the girl was eight months pregnant. Rico, in the county prison on $250,000 cash bail, has accused the girl of sexually assaulting him as he slept.According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Shenandoah police:On March 19, police received a call about a sexual assault. When they spoke with the victim's mother, she told them her 12-year-old daughter had taken a pregnancy test that showed a positive result. The child told her mother that Rico had assaulted her over the past several months.The mother was told to take the child to the hospital emergency room, and police called Schuylkill County Children and Youth Services.A short time later, police contacted a woman identified only as "Marla," who is described as an attorney and social worker from Massachusetts. "Marla" said she had gotten a call from a "Carlos" in Shenandoah, who had told her he wanted to get his 12-year-old girlfriend an abortion. Marla took his information, and explained that she could not help him. She contacted her local police department, which contacted Shenandoah police.On March 20, Shenandoah officer Michael O'Neill met with a Children and Youth Services agency worker to interview the child. As he was driving on Route 924, he saw Police Chief Thomas Rentschler conducting a traffic stop, and stopped to help.Rentschler told him Hazleton police had received an abduction report, and the two cars he had stopped were involved. While identifying the people in the cars, O'Neill saw a Hispanic man in the back seat who appeared to be injured.The man identified himself as Rico, and told O'Neill he had been picked up in Hazleton and assaulted.Rico was taken to Schuylkill Medical Center East in Pottsville. Police followed the ambulance there in order to take Rico into custody as soon as he was discharged.Meanwhile, O'Neill met with the C&Y worker, who told him the child's mother had taken her to a Hazleton hospital, where it was revealed she was 32 weeks pregnant.O'Neill observed and listened to the worker's interview with the child. The girl told the worker that Rico had begun sexually assaulting her twice a week several months earlier. She said Rico ignored her pleas to stop, and that he told her not to tell anyone, that it was their secret.The child said when she told Rico her stomach hurt and that she had not had her menstrual cycle for a long time, he bought a pregnancy test.The girl told the worker that when the test turned out positive, Rico acted surprised, and began to come up with lies and excuses to tell the girl's family. His initial plan was to have the child tell her mother that she was impregnated by a boy she met at a birthday party in New York City.Then, the girl said, he began calling people about abortions.The child told the worker that Rico told her mother that the sexual contact was an accident that happened in the shower, claiming he didn't do it on purpose.The girl told the worker she has never had a boyfriend.Police interviewed Rico, who told them the child sexually assaulted him while he was sleeping. She was stronger than he, Rico told police, and he could not get her to stop.In a second interview, Rico told police he "wants to pay for what he did." He then went on to describe what he described as consensual sexual relations with the child on three occasions. He admitted to telling the child to make up a story about how she became pregnant.