Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Pennsylvania

First, I would be very careful with respect to this situation: Statutory rape (now called "statutory sexual assault) is defined as follows;

� 3122.1. Statutory sexual assault.

Except as provided in section 3121 (relating to rape), a person commits a felony of the second degree when that person engages in sexual intercourse with a complainant under the age of 16 years and that person is four or more years older than the complainant and the complainant and the person are not married to each other.

Because you are not more than 4 older then this person, (you really should verify her age), you can legally engage in sexual activity with her, so long as she consents. The problem is that there are other offenses that you can be subjected to, under certain circumstances. For example, there is the following law:

� 6301. Corruption of minors.

(a) Offense defined.--

(1) Whoever, being of the age of 18 years and upwards,

by any act corrupts or tends to corrupt the morals of any

minor less than 18 years of age, or who aids, abets, entices

or encourages any such minor in the commission of any crime,

or who knowingly assists or encourages such minor in

violating his or her parole or any order of court, commits a

misdemeanor of the first degree.

So if you consumed alcoholic beverages together, smoked marijuana, or did anything with her that is anyway illegal, the charges and punishment could be very serious.

Finally, you have to consider that a 15 year old girl might be less mature than a girl of your own age. For example, if you date for a while, then break up under bad circumstances, she could always go to the police and make accusations against you, which even if not true, may result in your arrest, and having to hire a lawyer to defend yourself.

The bottom line is that you should be very, very careful if you want to go down this road. I suggest you meet her parents and let them know you're 18, so at least they would be aware of the relationship and consented to it.