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Man accused of touching, sprinkling sugar on girls appears in court

GREENSBURG, Pa. — The man accused of touching and patting down little girls — and sprinkling sugar on their heads — will avoid a trial and possibly a criminal record altogether.

Martin Eseny took an offer from prosecutors Thursday to go through a diversion program after being charged with disorderly conduct and harassment.

RELATED: Police arrest man accused of touching, sprinkling sugar on girls at church

“He is a gentle man who’s never been in trouble in his life,” said his attorney, Jennifer Lynch Jackson.

Eseny can’t have any contact with the victims or Christ’s Church in Greensburg. He also can’t have unsupervised visits with his grandchildren until a mental health evaluation or court order is complete.

Since the story broke, Jackson said Eseny has been harassed

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“My client has been receiving threats via text message from members of the community who are mistakenly thinking this is some sort of inappropriate touching case, which it never was,” she said. “We had to file criminal charges against one of these individuals.”

Investigators and church leaders — and even his attorney — considered Eseny’s behavior bizarre. But Jackson told Channel 11 she believes the girls may have embellished the story.

Eseny told her the girls asked him to play a song on the piano, and he joked about getting paid. He claims the girls were running around a table throwing sugar at each other.

“And somehow that got blown completely out of proportion,” she said. “My guess would be perhaps the children’s parents wanted to know why there was so much sugar was in their hair and this was a story they came up with.”