Corbett To Sign Latest Child Sex Abuse Bill

By Tony Romeo

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) - Governor Corbett is expected to sign a bill that a Montgomery County lawmaker says would close a loophole in the law governing cases involving people who work with youths who have sexual relationships with 16 and 17 year-olds.

Montgomery County House Republican Mike Vereb says his legislation was prompted by the case of William "Billy" Gordon, a private volleyball coach and personal trainer convicted of having an unlawful sexual relationship with a 15 year-old girl he coached.

Vereb says under current law, Gordon would have been tried under lesser charges had the relationship begun when the girl was a few months older at age 16, "Yes, it would have been a lesser charge, the corruption of the morals of a minor. And even on a corruption of the morals of a minor [charge], the threshold the prosecution must meet is very stiff."

Vereb's bill about to become law means someone like Gordon who has a sexual relationship with someone 16 or 17 will now face up to 7 years in prison. The measure is the latest in a series of bills passed by the state legislature in response to the Jerry Sandusky scandal.