The state prison sentence of a Bradford man convicted of having inappropriate contact with a minor has been upheld by the state Superior Court.

Gerald Pope, 42, is serving a sentence of at least five years after being convicted of unlawful sexual contact with a minor and corruption of minors.

According to reports from the time he was arrested, between January 2013 and August 2013, on at least 20 occasions, when Pope was in a position of control over a 13-year-old child, he allegedly would have the girl perform a sexual act on him in exchange for permission to see her boyfriend.

In the appeal, Pope’s attorney, Raymond Bulson of Portville, N.Y., had alleged the girl made up the allegations against Pope because she was angry she couldn’t visit her boyfriend. He also said the trial court erred for not allowing evidence of the child’s sexual conduct; and erred by allowing in evidence of a 21-year-old burglary conviction of Pope’s should he take the stand to testify in his own defense, which left the victim’s testimony unchallenged.

In a brief in opposition to the appeal, assistant district attorney Ashley Shade said any alleged evidence of the victim’s sexual activity was prohibited from use at trial because of the Rape Shield Statute, and because it was not relevant to Pope’s defense.

Regarding the burglary conviction, Shade said the “court found that the case was going to come down to credibility, and that the prosecution had a need to introduce the evidence since the case would turn on who the jury believed.”

The Superior Court agreed with Shade’s argument regarding the Rape Shield Law, saying that defense counsel made his argument at trial that the victim allegedly fabricated the charges to get back at him for limiting her contact with her boyfriend.

Testimony of the victim’s “prior sexual activity was not necessary to establish” Pope’s theory, the court ruled. Allowing it would have violated the Rape Shield Law, the judges said.

The court also tossed out Pope’s argument about not being able to challenge the victim’s testimony.

According to the ruling, the court did not consider his argument, but rejected it on procedural grounds instead. When an appeal is filed, a defendant is required to submit to the appeals court a “concise statement of errors complained of on appeal.” In this case, the Superior Court opinion indicates, the trial court judge rejected the first one filed by Pope’s attorney for being too vague. A second statement was filed after that.

“A review of both statement, however, reveals that (Pope) failed to identify this issue in either statement,” the opinion read.

Because Pope failed to include the argument in his statement, the argument is deemed to have been waived.

Therefore, the Superior Court upheld Pope’s sentence.

When Pope was first charged, he was facing 67 counts of charges including attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, unlawful contact with minors, indecent assault or a minor and unlawful contact with a minor.

At trial, he was found not guilty of aggravated indecent assault, attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault. The remainder of the charges were withdrawn by the McKean County District Attorney.