Boy aged 11 'is serial rapist who spent two years sexually assaulting boy aged 7 and girl aged 3

An 11-year-old boy has been charged by police in Pennsylvania after allegedly spending almost three years sexually assaulting two much younger children.

State police in Mercer County began a rape investigation after receiving an 'an allegation of sexual abuse' against the boy who lives in the rural Otter Creek Township outside Greenville.

The child repeatedly assaulted a boy aged seven and a girl aged three 'on multiple occasions' in the town from the start of April 2021 to December 2023, police believe.

Both victims live in Akron, Ohio, more than 70 miles south-east from the boy's Pennsylvania home and it is not clear whether they have moved there since the alleged abuse occurred.

Police believe the two young victims endured 32 months of abuse (stock photo) 

'At the completion of this investigation, the actor was charged with sexually assaulting two other juvenile victims between the above dates at the above location on multiple occasions,' a Pennsylvania State Police report read.

'Charges have been filed against the actor through Mercer County Juvenile Probation.'

Research estimates that over half of child sexual abuse offenses in the United States are committed by perpetrators under the age of 18.

But a 2020 study reported in the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse found that child perpetrators often have different motivations for abuse than adult offenders and tend to respond more favorably to treatment.

State police in Mercer County began a rape investigation after receiving an 'an allegation of sexual abuse' against the boy who lives in the rural Otter Creek Township outside Greenville