Mifflinburg man denies wrongdoing in Union County sexual assault trial

Jurors in Union County heard Timothy Alan Dowhower, a 44-year-old Mifflinburg man from Conley Road, repeatedly deny any wrongdoing while testimony focused on a teenage girl who says he pursued her for years.

The girl testified that the relationship began when she was 14. She said Dowhower bought her gifts, complimented her appearance, told her he loved her and counted down the days until she turned 18.

Dowhower faces seven felony charges, including three counts of aggravated indecent assault of a person. The trial was scheduled for June 22, 23 and 24 in Union County Court, after jurors were picked in May and the case was returned to the active trial calendar following earlier delay.

The case had first been set for Nov. 24 and 25, 2025, but Union County Judge Michael Piecuch granted a defense request for a continuance. That pushed the proceedings back into 2026, where they now are being heard in Lewisburg.

Pennsylvania State Police were contacted on April 4, 2024, after a Union County Children and Youth Services caseworker relayed the girl’s desire to report sexual assaults. Investigators alleged the incidents began in the summer of 2022, when she was 14, and continued until 2023. Police alleged there were 10 separate assaults at various locations, including a hotel in Lewisburg.

Dowhower was later arraigned, posted $200,000 bail and waived his preliminary hearing so the case could move into Court of Common Pleas. A hotel manager estimated he booked about $10,000 in rooms at the Country Inn and Suites Hotel in Lewisburg since 2022. The defendant is also tied to a separate criminal case involving an alleged theft of $870,000 from the Susquehanna River Valley Visitors Bureau, a matter that has been held until after the sexual-assault charges.