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WILKES-BARRE — A Luzerne County jury didn’t deliberate long before acquitting a Mountain Top man of a sexual assault charge.
The jury on Wednesday found Salvatore Argo, 39, not guilty of a felony count of sexual assault after a trial before Judge Michael T. Vough, according to court papers.
Jurors returned their verdict after about two hours of deliberation.
Police charged Argo in October 2013, two months after a woman alleged to investigators that Argo had sex with her without his consent.
The woman told police she and Argo had met on match.com, and had been seeing each other for just less than two weeks, according to a criminal complaint.
Police say the woman drove to Argo’s home for their third date on Aug. 17, 2013. She claimed that once there she and Argo engaged in sexual activity which he escalated without her consent.
The woman claimed she told Argo to stop several times and struggled to get away from him during intercourse, only to have him hold her tighter.
The complaint says a sexual assault kit performed by hospital personnel did not reveal any marks, bruising or other injury.