FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Pearl River Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison After Jury’s Guilty Verdict in Sexual Abuse Case
January 15, 2024
District Attorney Collin Sims reports that on January 15, 2025, 37-year-old Steven Harden of Pearl River was sentenced by Judge William H. Burris after a jury found him guilty in October of molestation of a juvenile and computer aided solicitation of a minor. Harden was sentenced to ten years in prison (the statutory maximum) on each count and Judge Burris ordered those sentences to run consecutive to each other, meaning Harden actually received a 20-year prison term. Assistant District Attorneys Angelina Valuri and Iain Dover handled the prosecution of the case. Lt. Jayson Germann with the Pearl River Police Department was in charge of the police investigation.
According to testimony from the trial, a young teen in Pearl River alerted her aunt in October, 2021, that her mother’s boyfriend, Steven Harden, was coercing her into disrobing in front of him. With the encouragement of her aunt, the young teen then contacted a family friend employed in law enforcement, who reacted with appropriate concern. The teen said she had informed her mother the first time it occurred but her mother did not believe her so she was reluctant to seek help from her mother again. The family friend/police officer immediately notified the proper authorities, resulting in the Pearl River Police Department opening an investigation.
During the trial, the young girl took the witness stand and testified how the defendant coerced her into partially disrobing and how he then touched her exposed breasts. Later, Harden attempted to coerce the teen into repeating this behavior. Additionally, he resorted to using Snapchat to tell her he needed her to perform sexual acts on him to help “release some stress.” The young girl also related to the jury how her bathroom door had no functioning lock and the defendant sometimes barged in and pulled the shower curtain back to look at her as she showered.
The jury returned guilty verdicts on both charges after deliberating less than one hour.