A Kunkletown man has been charged with raping a young girl.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by trooper Kevin Kreidler of the Pennsylvania State Police at Lehighton barracks:

At around 10 p.m. Aug. 21, the 9-year-old victim told her mother that Dirk Merkle Jr., 30, had raped her.

The victim’s mother then removed herself, the victim, and her 11-year-old daughter from Merkle’s residence and drove to her mother’s residence in Allentown.

During the drive, the victim said that she had been raped by Merkle between 6-7 p.m. Aug. 21, at which time the mother drove her children to St. Luke’s Allentown Campus.

A sexual assault examination kit was performed on the victim and placed into evidence at PSP Lehighton, where it was then transferred to the Wyoming Regional Laboratory for analysis.

At around 4 p.m. Aug. 22, troopers Nicholas De La Iglesia and Joseph Campano checked on Merkle’s welfare after receiving concerning text messages which were sent from him to the mother from Carbon County Children and Youth.

During that time, De La Iglesia interviewed Merkle, and he denied ever having any form of a sexual relationship with either of the mother’s daughters, and agreed to provide a DNA sample which could be compared to the sexual assault kit.

At around 4:30 p.m. Aug. 23, the victim was interviewed by a Forensic Interviewer at the Lehigh County Children’s Advocacy Center and referred to Merkle as “stupid Dirk.”

She said that Merkle has been sexually abusing her and her 11-year-old sister, and that while she has never seen Merkle sexually abuse her sister, he had made a sexually explicit video of her 11-year-old sister, showed it to her, and attempted to make her perform a sex act on him, but she refused.

In addition to the rape charge, Merkle also faces charges of statutory sexual assault; involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child; aggravated indecent assault; sexual assault; photographing, videotaping, depicting on computer or filming sexual acts; corruption of minors; indecent assault; and indecent exposure.

He is currently incarcerated in the Carbon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $100,000 straight bail, and is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing Jan. 8 before District Judge William Kissner of Palmerton.