Delco guardsman gets prison in sexual assault

LEBANON, Pa. - A Pennsylvania National Guard soldier from Springfield, Delaware County, has been sentenced to prison for his role in the rape of a woman inside a barracks at Fort Indiantown Gap in December 2007.

Matthew Taggart, 24, was sentenced Wednesday to three months to two years in the Lebanon County Prison and fined $1,000 for misdemeanor charges of indecent assault and simple assault. He pleaded guilty April 29. Felony charges of sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Sgt. Alan Wayne Ledford Jr., 26, of Coopersburg, Lehigh County, and Spec. Sean Patrick McMenamin, 24, of Pottstown, are to go on trial in the case this year. The victim, a civilian woman who was 36, told state police that she had met the men at a Jonestown bar. - AP