FARMINGTON — A local man accused of raping two girls in Somerset County was indicted Thursday on charges he sexually assaulted one of them in Farmington while holding a hammer, according to court documents.

Joseph Lawrence Magee, 40, of Farmington is charged with two felony counts of gross sexual assault by a Franklin County grand jury.

Magee was indicted earlier this month by a Somerset County grand jury on 16 counts of raping two girls, one under age 14 and one under age 18, from June 2014 to April 2018, according to the Morning Sentinel.

In the Farmington case, a teenage girl told police in April that Magee raped her while holding a hammer, according to Farmington Detective Marc Bowering’s affidavit filed with a Franklin County court. 

Farmington police were told there were previous assaults in Somerset County.

According to the affidavit, Bowering interviewed Magee and he “admitted to having sex” with the teenager “anywhere from 60 to 70 times in the last year or two. He did not admit to any of the sexual assaults occurring” at a residence in Farmington.

Magee is being held on $100,000 cash bail and a probation hold at the Franklin County Detention Center in Farmington.

The two Farmington charges have different classifications. A conviction on the more serious one is punishable by up to 30 years in prison; a conviction on the lesser one is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

Joseph Magee (Franklin County Detention Center)